"As the days get colder, I watch the world from Mama's shoulder." Rural Alaska is a playground for children who are discovering and learning every day. Read with your baby and join this whirlwind tour through Alaska's seasons in a four-book series created by Alaska Native authors and photographers.
When Hannah Breece came to Alaska in 1904, it was a remote lawless wilderness of prospectors, murderous bootleggers, tribal chiefs, and Russian priests. She spent fourteen years educating Athabascans, Aleuts, Inuits, and Russians with the stubborn generosity of a born teacher and the clarity of an original and independent mind. Jane Jacobs, Hannah's great-niece, here offers an historical context to Breece's remarkable eyewitness account, filling in the narrative gaps, but always allowing the original words to ring clearly. It is more than an adventure story: it is a powerful work of women's history that provides important--and, at times, unsettling--insights into the unexamined assumptions and attitudes that governed white settler's behavior toward native communities at the turn of the century. "An unforgettable...story of a remarkable woman who lived a heroic life."--The New York Times
Buildings of Alaska traces Alaska's architecture from the earliest dwellings made of sod, whalebone, and driftwood to the glass and metal skyscrapers of modern-day Anchorage. Focusing on the various cultural traditions that have helped shape the state's architecture, the volume also explores how Alaska's buildings reflect Alaskans' attempts to adapt to the unique conditions of their environment. Alison K. Hoagland examines the contributions to the state's architectural history of three major cultural groups: native Alaskans, Russian settlers, and Americans from the lower 48. Divided into six regions - South Central, Southeastern, Interior, Northern, Western, and Southwestern - entries cover such structures as aboriginal houses, Russian Orthodox churches, log roadhouses, false-front commercial buildings constructed during the gold rush, concrete Moderne public buildings of the 1930s, and high-rise office buildings erected during the oil boom of the 1970s and 1980s. Buildings of Alaska contains over 250 magnificent photographs, drawings, and maps, and will serve as an authoritative reference for scholars and students of architectural history, a compelling source of information for the general reader, and a splendid guidebook for the traveler.
The Great Book of Alaska is an entertaining, instructive and interesting Trivia & Facts book about the Last Frontier state. You'll learn more about Alaska's history, pop culture, folklore, sports, and so much more!
A pair of siblings escapes—along with a Siberian Husky—the strictures of their 1950s industrial Ohio town on the adventure of a lifetime. Talented high-school senior Donna Lane yearns to leave her Midwestern home in pursuit of a career in design, but she feels obligated to stay and care for her helpless father and her younger brother, Will. In fragile health and obsessed with the television show Sergeant Striker and the Alaskan Wild, Will’s dearest companion is a mute Siberian Husky named Trusty. The arrival of two outsiders inspires Donna to consider her dreams anew. Then Will falls sick, and Donna packs up their yellow convertible—with Will, Trusty, and a road atlas—and sets off for the Alaskan Territory. A portrait of a singular American moment, My One Square Inch of Alaska is a moving tale of exploration and love—human and canine—that dares to believe the impossible.
“Wonderful romantic suspense . . . took my breath away! Readers of Dee Henderson and Nora Roberts will love it!” —Hannah Alexander, award-winning author USA TODAY bestselling author Colleen Coble brings her signature blend of suspense and romance to the beautiful—and deadly—Alaskan wilderness. “You hide behind your camera instead of stepping out and engaging life with both hands. You're so afraid you'll fail at something, you won't even try.” For some people, Alaska is a breathtaking wilderness adventure, full of light and beauty. For Haley, it is a dangerous world of dark dreams and tortured memories. On the surface, she's here to document wildlife activist Kipp Nowak's bear encounters. But her real reason is to unearth the truth about a past murder. The suspense mounts when another body turns up, and Haley begins to wonder if the tragedies she experienced in the past are connected to the dangers and mysterious incidents of the present. From behind her camera, Haley observes it all, including Tank Lassiter, the wildlife biologist who has been forced to lead Kipp and his team into the Alaskan backcountry. As she watches him with his work, she feels a growing attraction. It will take great courage and faith to confront the truth she once ran away from. Before it's over, Haley may be viewing herself from an entirely new angle. Alaska Twilight is the story of a young woman's emergence from the shadows of past sorrow into the light of forgiveness and grace. “Colleen Coble will keep you glued to each page as she shows you the beauty of God’s most primitive land and the dangers it hides.” —romancejunkies.com “Colleen Coble’s Alaska setting is like an outback adventure without ever leaving the comfort (or warmth) of your own home. The reality will make you feel like there’s a grizzly bear breathing heavily over your peaceful night’s rest. Suspense, romance, and adventure, this one has it all.” —Kristin Billerbeck, author of The Theory of Happily Ever After “Coble . . . takes us on a dangerous trek through the beautiful Alaskan wilderness and introduces us to characters we can’t help but love. A suspenseful tale of murder and romance, Alaska Twilight grabs you by the heart and won’t let go until you finish the last page.” —Denise Hunter, bestselling author of The Convenient Groom and Honeysuckle Dreams
Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska features more than 200 objects representing the masterful artistry and design traditions of twenty Alaska Native peoples. Based on a collaborative exhibition created by Alaska Native communities, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, and the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, this richly illustrated volume celebrates both the long-awaited return of ancestral treasures to their native homeland and the diverse cultures in which they were created. Despite the North's transformation through globalizing change, the objects shown in these pages are interpretable within ongoing cultural frames, articulated in languges still spoken. They were made for a way of life on the land that is carried on today throughout Alaska. Dialogue with the region's First Peoples evokes past meanings but focuses equally on contemporary values, practices, and identities. Objects and narratives show how each Alaska Native nation is unique—and how all are connected. After introductions to the history of the land and its people, universal themes of “Sea, Land, Rivers,” “Family and Community,” and “Ceremony and Celebration” are explored referencing exquisite masks, parkas, beaded garments, basketry, weapons, and carvings that embody the diverse environments and practices of their makers. Accompanied by traditional stories and personal accounts by Alaska Native elders, artists, and scholars, each piece featured in Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage evokes both historical and contemporary meaning, and breathes the life of its people.