The book is filled with fabulous new photographs and fascinating archival shots. A clearly written history of the Alaskan Highway, dramatically colored with the lore and legend of the pilots of the North Country, it chronicles the critical influence of air transport on the development and history of the highway. Anyone who has flown or driven the highway will enjoy this book.

I enjoyed "Witcher" very much. Bill wrote about the people in a little community we used to live in using some people's real names and fictious names for others. It was easy to figure who everyone was but hard to see what would happen in the end. He did a great job. I didn't want to put the book down until it was finished. I hope Bill will write more books in the future.

A comprehensive history of the "forgotten front", Hutchison provides indepth information on all combatants; American, Japanese, Canadian and Russian. Internationally honored, the book describes details only available from distant archives from around the world. In this book these rare and disintegrating documents come together for the first time, and illuminate what occured in the frozen north. The north being the only active World War II theater, this book is a major achievment, and a must for any library.

An amazing, almost impossible to find, out-of-print National Geographic Alaska release- Yakutat: The Turbulent Crescent is a detailed insight into a fascinating corner of the world. Here, majestic glacial flows create titanic gorge walls; here white peaks of Mount St. Elias rise thousands of feet over the coast; Here, the little pine-nestled borough of Yakutat sits on the water's edge in view of it all.

Yakutat: The Turbulent Crescent studies the geological features of Yakutat and its history and pre-history. There are many nice, large photos- some full-bleed. The huge 1899 Yakutat Earthquake is explored- an earthquake which rose the sea level fifteen feet, caused three monstrous (60- 200 feet) tsunamis to roll into the bay at five minute intervals, and caused whirlpools to form which sucked down towering pines like toothpicks in a bathtub drain> This earthquake was witnessed first-hand by both the white settlers and the native Indians.

And I've just got to note: Yakutat has some of the most reliable surf in all of Alaska. Some waves can be seen in the background of a few of the photos. I like to think of this as- Yakutat: The Tubular Coast.

Having been interested in the Yukon, I bought this book and all I can say is Wow. In addition to providing breathtakingly beautiful pictures, this book describes all aspects of the Yukon: Its geography, history, and people. It profiles some of the Yukon's many colourful citizens, from Jurg Hofer (who runs a trapline about as big as his native Switzerland), to Polly, the fabled 122-year-old parrot who died in 1972.
This book would get five stars just for the pictures alone, which detail much of the Yukon's pristine, untouched wilderness. It acts in effect like a travel brochure for the Yukon, showing some of the World's most beautiful wilderness.
This book should be sought after by those interested in the Yukon, those interested in wilderness, and those who love photography. It is a first-rate compendum of the Yukon, to which I would have given ten stars, if that were possible.

The Yukon Quest is a 1000 mile dog sled race through the Yukon and Alaska that pits man and is best friend against the worst Mother Nature has to offer. In this book John Firth takes the reader through each stage of the 1998 Yukon Quest. Also filled within the pages are anecdotes from all the races between 1984 to 1997. The stories are personal, they are real, they will make you laugh, they will make you cry, but most of all they will make you see the bond that the mushers have with their dogs. There is a relationship between the musher and his/her dog team that goes beyond that of a pet. There is trust, love, and the enjoyment of being together.The interactions between the mushers can be comical at times but it can also turn serious when necessary. Frith has many stories from the mushers that will show you both sides. The best thing about all the mushers is that no matter what, if someone needs help everyone will stop to help and forget about the race until everybody is safe. The must rely on each other, they are the only people around for hundereds of miles. It is not easy to cross 1000 miles of frozen land and water. They must help each other if they can. The book also gives a history of the race such as route changes and political problems encountered. The 1998 official race rules are included as are the results and awards from 1984 to 1998.

"Looking for Alaska" is a series of fascinating tales of Peter Jenkins' experiences during an 18-month stay in Alaska. He is primarily interested in the relationship of Alaskans to the land they inhabit, so most chapters focus on the many diverse people he met along his journey. The author's straightforward, unadorned writing style effectively allows him to stay out of the way of his subjects - who range from Alaskan Native women to Iditarod racers to homesteaders above the Arctic Circle - as they reveal their stories. At times his writing was so understated that I began to wonder whether he was stunned into wordlessness by the Alaskan wild, but for the most part appreciated his restraint, especially when he conveyed funny anecdotes.

Though he keeps the focus on Alaska and its people, the author reveals some of his own personal journey as a middle-aged man still seeking new adventures. Part of the adventure this time around is that he brought his family with him (apparently a change from his previous travels); however, we learn little about how his wife and young daughter adjust to life in a small town on the edge of the wilderness, and his teenage sons are nearly absent from the story altogether. We read more about 19-year-old daughter Rebekah, who reminds the author of himself at the same age.

"Looking for Alaska" is at its best when Peter Jenkins allows the majesty and wildness of Alaska to reveal itself in the details of people's daily lives - whether traveling by snowmobile to areas without roads, coping with bears in the neighbors' yards, or struggling to maintain traditional "subsistence" living on the land's bounty. It piqued my curiousity about Alaska and even made me want to consider visitng there myself.

Do you ever wonder what Alaska is really like when the tourists go home and we Alaskans are left with Alaska? Well, this is the book. It tells all. I am a lifelong Alaskan. I am also one of those mentioned in "Looking For Alaska." Peter stayed with me for several days at WinterCabin B and B and experienced his first Alaska snow while here in Tok, Alaska. I'm a writer by profession and I read the entire book with a critical eye, looking for a problem, searching for a place where he may have "doctored" it up or glossed over something. He didn't. Peter Jenkins has done a superb job of telling it like it is. Moving his family to Seward, Alaska, he has traveled the entire state, going where his heart took him. And he captured it all. The good, the bad, and the glorius. If you want to know how we Alaskans live at any given moment, at any given time, in any given place, this is the book that tells all. I have never read a book that so carefully, and fully, captured the entire state, but this one does. This his best book yet. Told in simple layman's terms, it's an easy read. Whether you're an armchair traveler, just interested in Alaska, or if you're planning a trip to Alaska and you can only read one book, read Peter Jenkins' Looking For Alaska."

I've always wanted to travel to Alaska, but after reading Peter Jenkin's book, that desire is double. Looking for Alaska is a joy to read, and it balances nicely the written word and the photo, that so many other travelogues cannot. Too many travel books are pretty pictureless, such as Terra Incognita, so you are left only with the author's descriptions of things. Or you get the coffee table photographic book that tries to tell you everything in a set of photos. Jenkins vivid writing and unforgettable characters come alive, and what a joy to be able to turn the page and see what is being talked about.

But even if there were no photos the book would be superb. While no one can probably say that they "understand Alaska," I feel that I know have a fresh and valid insight into what is essentially another country. One of the themes that runs through the book is how Alaska exerts a siren song upon visitors, resulting in many visitors never leaving. In many ways, you could almost hear the regrets in Jenkin's writing as he leaves the state after a year. The best of all is that for most of these people, they can't exactly say what kept them there, which just adds to the mystique of the state.

Jenkins takes the time to show us the width and bredth of the state, visiting most of the regions over the course of the year, north, south, east and west. And you are presented views through more than one person's eyes, as he uses some of his daughter's written recollections to further the narrative and to show the pull of the state on others in his family.

All in all, I put down the book and started looking at flights to Alaska. I want to go so badly now, and so will you.

Mr. Spike Walker takes you from elation to utter dispair as you read through detailed accounts from the primary sources. Those of us who know the sea will only have a deeper respect for its truly awesome and untold powers. Those that have not been able to experience the sea will feel as though they have after reading Mr. Walkers' accounts. "Working on the Edge" will ignite a sense of adventure and longing to experience all that life has to offer. By no means will I pass on without visiting the Alaskan coastline after reading this book. Mr. Walker's experiences will bring to light part of the core of human existance with the world around us. This is truly an incredible story of one man's account of some of his years of life. I feel that I have not only read a great book, but as though I have met an amazing individual who shared some of himself with me. This glimpse into life is not to be missed. Give this book away when you are done so that others can experience it too.

Incredible! Having lived in Alaska for 3 years, serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, I can attest to the authors gripping portrayal of working in this profession. Spike Walker delivers a gritty, real and inside look at king crab fishing in the Bering Sea. I have never read a book that was more in depth on the job as well as the off boat life of a fisherman. Having seen what he describes in the book first hand, with the tragedies and glories, this is one book you will not want to pass up. I would reccomend this to anyone who enjoys stories of the sea. I have owned this book for 2 years and still read it often. This is one novel that won't sit on your shelf for long. The Alaskan king crab fishing fleet is an example of brave men and women, at their finest, and sometimes their worst. Laden with success and sorrow, you will definately get a better understanding of America's most dangerous job, and develop a deep appreciation of what these men and women do every season to provide for the rest of us.

Don't hesitate any longer, get this book today.

Spike Walker slams us into the icey grip of alaska's crab fishing industry like a "rogue wave". His ability to put the reader on the deck of an alaskan crab boat and suffer the cold misery is unparalelled! Stories of hardship and heroisim abound in this book. The great Jack London could not write a better account. We, the reader are forced to look upon our mundane existance and somehow find our day to day complaints sound rather hallow. Mr. Walker makes us want to stand alittle strighter and try alittle harder. If you love the outdoors, this book is a "must read". I've read it twice!!

T.C. Boyle is one of the most technically gifted writers in America, as the present volume bears witness to. His descriptions, characterizations, and flights of lyricism are almost without peer.

But Drop City is a quickly tedious and predictable book that's been written many times--by Denis Johnson (*Already Dead*), for instance. Boyle seems self-consciously smug in his own brazen mediocrity at times, going for adolescent gross-outs and tired narrative scenerios.

Drop City is, most of all, a book about the waste and decay and lassitude of a certain segment of the author's generation. If that "does it" for you, read my 2 stars as 5. But the arrested emotional development of the novel's characters, so clearly described, seems to be the end in itself here--more than any other American author I've read, Boyle seems to take a perverse glee in demonstrating his virtuosity and then not going any further. I used to think he just wasn't writing up to his potential. But maybe he is.

the reviewers who are complaining need to realize that T. C. Boyle writes FICTION. As with all his books, he begins with two separate stories that somehow converge. and living in alaska does involve gruesome animal death - ask the folks who live where no roads go and the sun doesn't shine for days. I loved his portrayal of alaska and found it to be one of the most real I've read. His characters aren't people you entirely love, hmmmm just like the real world. I did identify with some of the women. They are idealists and idealists make a lot of mistakes. I enjoyed the scenery and the dialogue. I love Boyle and enjoyed the book immensely. It wasn't a hippie memoir - wasn't all about drugs and sex- it's about people and relationships and how life itself affects those relationships.

Really loved this book, loved his word choice and cared about the characters. Kind of reminded me of why I like Tom Wolfe novels in its journalistic approach. I ate up the details on what it's like to be a hippie.

I liked that Boyle suggests there is no free lunch since "dropping out" is portrayed either as a self-indulgent loveless enterprise or nightmarish hard work, and that the extremes of either communal living or complete solitude aren't answers. Makes me appreciate the 'burbs more.

If you haven't read it yet, don't read the following:
What's interesting too is how Boyle suggests we are products of our environment. The stress of Alaska broke the hippies, exacerbated Ronnie/Pan's evil and eventually caused the leader to bolt, a breach of everything he stood for. Pre-Alaska, their brotherliness and camarderie was fostered by the comfort and drugs, but how many of us our bolstered in brotherliness and camarderie by our comfort and our beer? Sess's hatred of the contemptible Joe Bosky is understandable, but he's as much a product of the environment as any wolf, heartless as the climate.

Basically this is the story of a cub, half dog and half wolf that grows up in the wild eventually gets adjusted to civilization. Someone who likes reading about animals, is more likely to enjoy this novel quite a lot. London lets the White Fang think, lets him make an emotionla learning process (from hatred to love of man) and makes him thus almost become a human being. The book is easy to read, it has quite a simple vocabulary. I guess it seems to be more a story for kids than for adults. I still enjoyed reading the book quite a lot

For a few years, "Call of The Wild" was my favorite book. It's still one of my favorites, and now I finally read "White Fang," which is the book that many people have compared to "Call of The Wild." Both of those classics were wrote by the same great author, Jack London.

"White Fang" isn't as much like "Call of The Wild" as you might think it is. "White Fang" is a classic story of a wolf who was born part dog/part wolf, but who's wild instincts (the wolf side), far outshine the dog instincts. However, life in the wild is tough and White Fang has to learn the ways of humans. Will White Fang ever grow fond of humans, or will he remain a wild creature who only knows vengeance? I recommend getting this book and reading it to find out, and trust me, it's well worth it if you like classic books that are well written.

If you like "White Fang" after you read it, I would recommend also getting "Call of The Wild." I can't really say which one of the two is my favorite because they're both GREAT books!

Masterfully done, White Fang is ultimately a story of love. The cruelty and hardship and bitterness of the Wild, bored into the very essence of a wolf-dog named White Fang, whose heart is turned cold as stone by the cruel hand of man and of the Wild. A killer, more wolf than dog; even his own kind turned against him. His mother taken away before his very eyes when he was only a puppy; reunited years later, even she does not recognize him and turns her back on him, as have all of his kind, growling and snarling at him; the enemy of his kind. Hatred towards every living thing posesses him, until he does not even remember what love is.

It is not until a man named Weedon Scott appears, and saves White Fang from certain death, that White Fang's life is changed. Scott is the opposite of all that he had come to know in life, and very, very gradually, White Fang comes to know love, for the very first time.

This story stays as one of my favorite, and the best, pieces of literature of all time, and anyone who has not read it is sincerely missing out. White Fang, is definately, Jack London at his best.