This is an inspirational and deeply moving story of a proud Alaska Indian family struggling to survive in two worlds. Sam and Louise Harper and their ten children make a soul-grinding transition into a modern white-dominated society where they face bigotry, poverty, and illness. Yet, Louise remains in touch with centuries-old traditions of healing, honoring nature's spirits, and a belief that the spirits of all Athabascans one day will return to the headquarters of the Yukon River.
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Editorial Reviews
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...A story about struggle, fortitude, and hope. --Ronald Spatz, Editor, Alaska Quarterly Review
Cold River Spirits is told with wit and skill, showing the humor and joy as well as the sorrow of a family's struggle to cross the divide between cultures. --Tony Hillerman
Harper-Haines portrays her predecessors like characters in a novel rich with flaws, strengths, and human frailities. --Juneau Empire
Cold River Spirits is told with wit and skill, showing the humor and joy as well as the sorrow of a family's struggle to cross the divide between cultures. --Tony Hillerman
Harper-Haines portrays her predecessors like characters in a novel rich with flaws, strengths, and human frailities. --Juneau Empire
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Text: English
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cold River Spirits,
By Carol Eaton (Anchorage, AK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cold River Spirits: The Legacy of an Athabascan-Irish Family from Alaska's Yukon River (Hardcover)
I absorbed Cold River Spirits in a flurry of intense reading. Once the book was opened, I could not put it down. The stories were compelling and engaging, full of warmth, amusement, charm, sorrow, and tragedy. I was drawn into the lives of this Alaska Native family and rejoiced in their triumphs and commiserated in their troubles. The icon of the family, Louise, embodied the power, strength and wisdom of the Alaska Native woman. Louise's thoroughly modern daughter, Flora Jane, became the first Alaska Native, man or woman, to graduate from the University of Alaska! These real life stories reflect the difficulties and challenges of the Alaska Native people as it has in more recent times interfaced with the pervasive and dominant white culture. But Cold River Spirits is not just an ethnological family history; it has much broader appeal, for it crosses cultural and racial lines, and the reader senses the deeper message of the themes of humanity that unify us all. This was an immensely satisfying book.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A cultural snapshot of an Interior Alaskan family.,
By George P. Charles, Ph.D (Fairbanks, AK United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cold River Spirits: The Legacy of an Athabascan-Irish Family from Alaska's Yukon River (Hardcover)
An informative and important ethnographic work giving a glimpse of one family's life experiences in interior Alaska. A story well crafted and researched by one of the descendants of an Athabascan/Irish family filled with the realities of the sometimes harsh aspects of life in the north but yet also filled with the joys of living with strands of hope. It demonstrates how people cope with the clashing of cultures and how people on another level recreate their identity with one foot in the past (belief in Cold River Spirits) and one in the present. This book is highly recommended as a prime example of how to do ethnography. At times an air of expectancy is created and much like Louise, a central character in the family story, we get a sense of what's to come. It was story told with candor and helps to give us a snapshot of the cultural landscape of her people.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best book since TWO OLD WOMEN,
By Jane Evanson, Co-author, BREAKING INTO PRINT (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cold River Spirits: The Legacy of an Athabascan-Irish Family from Alaska's Yukon River (Hardcover)
COLD RIVER SPIRITS is a wonderful and welcome addition to my library. Jan Harper-Haines writes with wisdom and humor. She tells the story of her family with candor, helping readers appreciate the challenge of living in two cultures. The book is a fast read; I couldn't put it down. As a result, I gave several copies as holiday gifts to friends and family. COLD RIVER SPIRITS deserves five stars.
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- Alaska Native Ways: What the Elders Have Taught Us by Natives of Alaska in Back Matter
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