Series: International Portrait Series | Publication Date: September 1, 1999
As Alaska's Native peoples confront contemporary challenges, they increasingly find purpose in traditional values and practices that have sustained their cultures for millennia. In stirring words and spectacular photos, "Alaska Native Ways: What the Elders Have Taught Us" pays tribute to the first Alaskans and the ancient values they consider paramount to their survival.
Renewed pride has emerged across Alaska as Natives, both young and old, proclaim and celebrate their connections to their ancestry, ties that will define their identity in a new century.
William Friar grew up near the banks of the Panama Canal. Though an American citizen, Bill has lived most of his life overseas. Besides Panama, he has called Denmark, India, and the United Kingdom home, and he spends as much time as possible traveling around the world.
He has written three Panama-related books: the guidebook Moon Handbooks: Panama (now in its third edition); an ecotourist guide, Adventures in Nature: Panama; and a photo-essay book, Portrait of the Panama Canal (now in its third edition). He also writes about England, San Francisco, and various bits of South America.
Bill began his writing career as a stringer for the metro desk of The New York Times, where he found that covering stabbings, shootings, blizzards, and hockey parades was surprisingly good training for travel writing. He has also worked as a rock-music critic, technology-news editor, human biology instructor, writing coach, fundraiser for a medical foundation and a university, software-manual author, and reporter for three daily newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Bill's work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Arizona Republic, Neuen Zürcher Zeitung, San Jose Mercury News, Orange County Register, Houston Chronicle, Budget Travel, and other publications.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University, Bill also holds a Stanford MA in English and American literature and an MS in journalism from Columbia University. He lives in London with his wife, Karen.
Not only does Friar present a wonderful historical synopsis of the Canal, he also paints a verbal picture of life as a child growing up in the Canal Zone. The photographs of the Canal are some of the best I have seen. The captions are not "one-liners," they actually describe the what the reader is seeing in the photograph. The reader should come away with a very good knowledge of Panama Canal history and an understanding of how the Canal operates all within the 2 to 3 hours it takes to read the book.
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5.0 out of 5 starsHighly recommended for cruise passengers, June 14, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Portrait of the Panama Canal (International Portrait Series) (Paperback)
I read this book prior to transiting the Canal. It covers history and operations in precise detail and the numerous dramatic photos make it a wonderful souvenir of the Canal. There are other books that are very long and heavy to take with you.This book has all the information in easily readable style for those who don't have time for a thick book on this subject. Reads like an adventure story.
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Friar does an excellent job of giving the reader an overview of all of the major events that lead to the canal's existence. If you are interested in learning the details of the canal's construction story, then I would recommend David McCullough's epic work, "The Path Between the Seas." But, for an overview, this book is a good resource.
The pictures included in the book are very good and add a good visual complement to the text.
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