Customer Reviews

Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land--From Russian Fur Traders to the Gold Rush, Extraordinary Railroads, World War II, the Oil Boom, and the Fight Over ANWR

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Walter R. Borneman's "Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land" delivers exactly what it promises to deliver from its subtitle. The book is a complete history of the 49th State, from prehistoric times until the dawn of the 21st Century. Checking in at 540 pages of narrative, it is as big and daunting as Alaska itself. Though the book could have used more illustrations and perhaps some photographs to assist the reader, Borneman is a good enough storyteller to keep things interesting.

The story begins with a discussion of the migration of native tribes from Siberia during the last ice age. Borneman then flashes forward to Vitus Bering and the first Russian explorations and colonization of the territory. This is then followed by "Seward's Folly," the American purchase of Alaska, which, surprisingly, as Borneman demonstrates was much more widely supported than many historical accounts would indicate. At two cents an acres, it was certainly one of the great bargains of the 19th Century.

Moving into the 20th Century, the story focuses on the Alaskan Gold Rushes and American settlement, the Japanese invasion during World War II, the 1964 earthquake, and finally the production of oil and the resulting envioronmental controversies. Borneman's scope is expansive, and any reader of his book will come away with a very complete knowledge of the history of what remains the last American frontier.

Overall, a comprehensive and well-written account that will be particularly appreciated by history buffs.

I thought this book does an excellent job of relating Alaskan history prior to statehood. The impact of Russian America and World War II proves to be well written. After statehood, it seem like only thing that went on in Alaska were related to oil, native land claims and 1964 Earthquake. There were whole lot more that took place in this state during the last 45 years that the book covered. Unfortunately, the author seem to be enamoured with the big headlines subjects in the post statehood period.

A thick book but its quite readable. For people living outside Alaska, this would be an excellent introduction to the Alaska's history. For the local folks like me, first half of the book remains interesting while the latter half appears to be rehashed of newspaper material. It may have been wise if the author stop at statehood and then wrote a second volume since he seem to have a decent flair for writing.

Alaska, Saga of a Bold Land, is an archetype for North American regional history. In an entirely commendable fashion, Walter Borneman has provided the captivating details of a frontier state which remarkably remains so into the 21st century. Plotting the economic victories and upheavals, the natural disasters and wonders, Borneman deftly communicates the intimate details rarely found in such a readable history.

Borneman's view is a balanced one where competing interests are at play. In the ever divisive fight over land use and conservation, Borneman admirably selects the middle ground while patiently explaining the potential impacts upon Alaska's future. Such an objective and, yet, compelling achievement is highly appreciated as was Borneman's excellent asides into local characters and customs. Alaska has been pushed and pulled by outside interests since it's inception as an economic engine. From early Russian fur exploitation to contemporary cruise ship tourism, Alaska, Saga of a Bold Land, is a gem.

Before there was Seward's Folly, there were the Russian fur traders, and before them were the native tribes. Borneman takes you on an exhaustive trip through our 49th state from its geological formation and the land bridge with Asia to the dawn of the twenty-first century. Along the way we are introduced to explorers, natives, conservationists, trappers, fishermen, prospectors, politicians and oil men, among a slew of others. He shows how Alaska has been misunderstood, misrepresented and exploited all through history. The history he presents is very thorough - almost too thorough. He speaks of many peoples and locations as Alaska was explored and the great blank on the map became filled in with details. But this is the weakness of the book. For such a vast land (superimposed over the lower 48 states, Alaska would stretch from the southeast, to California, and up to the Dakotas), the maps in the book, while helpful, do not adequately help the reader. There needed to be more - many of the places are introduced to us as the explorers come, yet pinpointing them on the map could be difficult without a guide. By necessity, many maps of Alaska need to be large scale; unfortunately a lot of this large scale is taken up by wilderness. Borneman needed to give us more blow up sections of the coast to illustrate what he was talking about. It was not until 100 pages after it was first talked about did I understand where a location really was. Despite this flaw, you can't quibble with the author's passion for the subject and the time he has spent putting together the story of this fairly unknown land. And with its role in various empires, exploration and expansions, the history is a fascinating tapestry of kingdoms and explorers. It is not a difficult read, just one with lots of details, but one that can transport you to our northernmost state, seeing where it is and where it is still trying to fit into our United States. A book worth the investment of time.

Borneman presents an exceptional overview of the history of Alaska which isn't mired in the minutiae of detail that many historians feel necessary to disclose. Because of this, he keeps the pace pretty quick. There is an excellent bibliography in the back of the book for those interested in studying the subject in more detail, but Borneman presents a lot of history in these pages. I faulted the book on the maps, which are small and therefore not very detailed. Most readers might not find this too much of a problem, but I like to follow along the trail, so to speak, with the author.

Having moved to Alaska a little over a year ago, I thought catching up on Alaskan history would be a good idea. So I bought a copy of this book. It is an easy to read book, and took me about two weeks to go through. It takes the reader from the beginning with the various diverse Alaskan natives, then up through the Russian flag following Russian commerce, their sale of Alaska to the U.S., and the days before the gold rush. From there, the impacts of world war and the advent of oil drilling, among other events, is covered. Much is in here which I had not heard about anywhere else; for instance, who knew that Alaska struggled from as early as 1916 onward to become a state? And who remembers that voyages were made to check the feasibility of shipping oil directly out of Prudhoe Bay (which as you can see with the oil pipeline's construction didn't work out very well)?
This was a good book, and it served to reinforce my vision of Alaska as an "exploited" state--that is, its resources are tapped,and after the goods are tapped out, the people leave until the next "gold rush". As the author is a mountaineer, he devotes much time to the subject--which depicts the enormity of the state. The challenges faced here are shown with the history of railroad construction and other attempts at transportation, as well as the early episodes of European exploration.
The major flaw of the book is that the maps are of little help. It would have helped if he would list as many towns mentioned as possible on the maps. I am not from Alaska originally, so I struggled in some areas to keep a good geographical sense about me as I read along. The maps appear at the beginning of "Books One" thorough "Nine" and often when compelled to check them for a particular place, you can't find it. Nonetheless,if you are interested in finding out more about the 49th state, pick up this book.

This book contains very detailed info. After traveling to Alaska and taking some 400 photos, this book has helped me put together a more detailed narrative to go along with the photos.

Walter R. Borneman tells the interesting social and political history of Alaska, from the Native peoples through the Russian occupation and the sale to the United States down to the present day. The last 100 years or so is covered in greater detail than much of the time prior, but this is still the most comprehensive book about Alaska that I could find. Given the large size of Alaska there is a lot of ground covered in this book from mountaineering and those who surveyed and climbed the peaks to the gold rush and oil boom to the exploitation of sea otters and salmon and the overall exploration of the land. I have had an interest in learning more about Alaska for about a year now, and all I could find in my local library was Michener's immense and sometimes dense "Alaska," which is, of course, historical fiction. It was helpful and covered in detail what might be called the "eras" of Alaska's history, but the fact that it was fiction made it confusing when trying to learn the real history. Nonetheless, it provided a good basis and context. But Borneman's great book gives the real history and names without lumping so much history together, and it does so in a very readable and entertaining way. I had checked out this book from the library but accidentally ordered it from Amazon through "one-click" ordering. Amazon graciously offered to take it back, but I've enjoyed the book so much that it was an easy decision to keep it. It's helped me to gain a much better understanding of the area (but if you're especially familiar with the Juneau area and don't mind sharing your knowledge, please send me an e-mail).

This a well written history of our 49 state. Anyone interested in the history of Alaska will find this book interesting.

This is a very well written and interesting introduction to Alaska and its history. I would recommend it highly to anyone planning to visit Alaska. (Don't be put off by first chapters of the book discussing the state's geography. They contain a great deal of interesting information but are a slow read compared to the rest of the book.)