Alaska

Over 1000 pages, and covering a billion years – from the woolly mammoth to becoming the 49th state – James Michener tells the both the natural and human history of Alaska. This epic begins with the geological formation of the landmass and the first humans to walk across the Bering Land Bridge, and includes Russian fur traders, the gold rush, the native Alaskans, Baranov’s founding of Sitka “the Paris of the Pacific,” Seward’s folly, the role of Alaska in WWII, James Cook, the Oil Pipeline and more. The history of Alaska is as wild and diverse as that of any land. And Michener covers all of it.

The history of Alaska and its role in the development of the whole of the Western United States and Canada is a fascinating story. Michener chooses characters, real and made up, who personify the types of people who gave up all they had in the hope that they would gain more in the gold rush - the prospectors, the merchants, those who ran the shipping lines that supplied the route, and those who died along the way.

After massive amounts of research, Michener weaves the fascinating and complex history of a land that will not be tamed. As in all good historical fiction, the fiction is hard to tell from the history. But, I do have one complaint – to make a grand closing to the book, Michener adds a geological event that did not happen. It made the story interesting up to the last page, but to add an event of such magnitude, one that does not exist, is a strange way to end. It brings into question what other major changes were made. In his defense, this book was never meant to become a history text. And overall, it did not detract from the enjoyment of the novel. I just recall getting to Alaska after reading the book and wondering what was real and what had been made up to enhance the narrative.

Michener, James. (1989). Alaska. New York: Fawcett.