Customer Reviews

Tales of Alaska's Bushrat Governor: The Extraordinary Autobiography of Jay Hammond, Wilderness Guide and Reluctant Politician

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This autobiography written by former Alaska governor, Jay Hammond proves to be a superbly entertaining book about his life - both personal and political. Hammond writes in a very easy going style as if he was sitting right next to you talking about his life story.

As a politican, Hammond reflects a classical Alaskan character. Conservative with liberal bias. I found some of his accounts as our governor to be quite interesting. Especially how he dealt with the pipeline and the Permanent Fund. His personal life also reflects a great deal of adventures as he made his way to Alaska. He must have been very lucky to survived all these plane clashes!!

Can't go wrong reading this book.

I just finished this biography and really enjoyed it. I knew who Jay Hammond was since his name pops up in almost every Alaska book I read. What I didn't know is that he had a great sense of humor and must have been a hoot as a friend and neighbor.

I enjoyed reading about his childhood, his Air Force service during WWII, his marriage(s) and kids, and the many jobs he had on his way to Governor. I do wish he had talked more about his experiences building his cabin and fishing, hunting, trapping and being outdoors. The political stuff took over half of the book, and got a little boring in parts.

But, I did enjoy the whole book and was glad for the index in the back so I could go back and re-read parts. I learned quite a bit about the fight between factions over the oil pipeline and homesteading and native issues. He was a nice mix between conservative and liberal, conservationist and developer, although those qualities meant some portion of the populace was mad at him at any given time.

This is an autobiography of a fascinating Alaskan who, among other things, was also a US Marine, a bush pilot, a fisherman and Governor of the State. Jay has a clever, self-deprecating and iconoclastic view of Alaska and Alaska politics. He was truly a unique cross of being a conservative with paradoxically strong liberal stances on the environment and "development" in general. Jay was governor during one of the most polarized times in Alaska's history so you can be sure he had his detractors as well as his loyalists. The book is fortunately not all about his tenure as Governor; his earlier years as a trapper and guide were equally interesting to this reviewer. This book is an easy read and will leave you smiling. If only we could all have such a rich life.