Travelers' Tales Alaska: True Stories (Travelers' Tales Guides) [Paperback]

Bill Sherwonit (Editor), Andromeda Romano-Lax (Editor), Ellen Bielawski (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Travelers' Tales Guides | Publication Date: September 26, 2003

Explore America's last frontier with a cabal of experienced guides to witness the Inupiat taking of a bowhead whale, follow the seasons of commercial fisherfolk, sail the Inside Passage, and flight-see with bush pilots around Denali. The Land of the Midnight Sun has its share of surprises as well, including an entire town that lives in a single World War II vintage highrise, a hairy man who roams the bush, and backcountry gourmands who communicate with edible plants. Contributors include Tim Cahill, Jon Krakauer, Pam Houston, Joe McGinnis, Ian Frazier, David Roberts and others.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Travelers' Tales is a valuable addition to any pre-departure reading list

Product Details

• Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: Travelers' Tales (September 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885211961
• ISBN-13: 978-1885211965
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,653,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three Decades In Alaska Tells Me These Stories Are True!, June 13, 2005

By 

R. Baldwin "climber and skier" (Wasilla, Alaska) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Travelers' Tales Alaska: True Stories (Travelers' Tales Guides) (Paperback)

After twenty-nine years in this great land sometimes called the Last Frontier, I can tell you that the essays in Travelers' Tales: Alaska ring true. I, personally, flew with several of the colorful glacier pilots out of Talkeetna to climb in the Alaska Range including Doug Geeting, Cliff and Jay Hudson, and Lowell Thomas, Jr., and I especially enjoyed Jon Krakauer's The Flyboys of Talkeetna. In the Introduction to this collection and in his piece, Shot Tower, Dave Roberts, East Coast writer and mountaineer, reflects on his early years of Alaskan expeditions and he critically examines his relationship to climbing. If you like mountains, you will like these tales.

This collection takes you on an Alaskan odyssey. The stories range from sea-kayaking up against monster glaciers in Glacier Bay (Tim Cahill's The Great White Philharmonic) to flying into a remote Forest Service cabin on the Kenai with your 19-day old infant, four-year old son, and grown husband to do a little grayling fishing (Andromeda Romano-Lax's Seeking Paradise) to helping Inupiat hunters haul in a whale killed in traditional fashion and divide the meat among community members (Heather Villars' On the Pack Ice). In Bill Sherwonit's Hairy Man Lives, you are treated to multiple first-hand recollections of encounters with Alaska's Sasquatch. Hairy Man is real in rural Alaska. I lived in Native villages for eight years, and I can vouch for this.

In all my years here, I have learned that Alaska is a state like no other for direct experience with the beauty, mystery, and raw power of Nature. After reading this book, you will want to travel here to see for yourself. Or, if you have been here for a while, as I have, you will be reminded of why you came in the first place.