An Introduction To Books On Alaska

By Tameka Ware


It is one of the more remote places in the United States. It is renowned for its wilderness, its long winter nights and the midnight sun in summer. If you want to travel there, even if it's just in your mind and not a physical journey, one of the best ways to do it is by reading books on Alaska.

Travel publications and guide books often have themes like camping, hiking, fishing or hunting that will help you enjoy the wilderness for which the Frontier State is known. Creatures like birds, fishes and marine animals are described in many books too. If you prefer creature comforts instead, you will also find guides on how to plan and go on an RV trip in the state.

Non-fiction stories about the Alaskan wilderness are often gripping stories of survival here. An early work about the area is 'The Journals of Captain James Cook'. He visited these shores during his third voyage. Jon Krakauer's book 'Into the Wild' is a more recent great read that illustrates just how dangerous this landscape can be.

The state, even though it has a small population, is home to fascinating characters and an interesting history. This is related in a variety of publications about themes like the lives of bush pilots, early frontiersmen and native tribes, the gold rush in the Klondike and the construction of the Alaska Highway. If you want to know about the Exxon Valdez disaster or sled-dog races, you will find works about these events too.

A great overview of Alaskan history, combined with fiction, is 'Alaska' by James Michener. This takes you back all the way to the area's geological formation and covers the centuries that followed, all the way to the state's political formation. Jack London also took a peek at Alaska in 'White Fang' and 'Call of the Wild', even though both stories take place mainly in the Yukon in Canada. Animals, adventure and survival are popular themes in fictional works about this wild landscape, including 'Two Old Women' by Velma Wallis. This story describes how a pair of elderly women were left behind by their tribe and relied on each other to stay alive throughout winter.

Vampires and werewolves dream of a place like The Last Frontier, where in winter it is dark all the time and in summer there is perpetual daylight. The long winter nights become nightmarishly scary in '30 Days of Night', a graphic novel. For supernatural romance, nothing beats the 'Twilight' saga and one of the volumes in Stephenie Meyer's series is set during the state's long days of summer. It is appropriately called 'Midnight Sun'.

Local legends add to the landscape's mystery. If you then take into account that people like killers can easily live underneath the radar in this vast land, you have the recipe for a story that you won't stop reading until you've turned that last page. Thrillers and suspense or mystery novels set in Alaska abound.

If you prefer something a little quirkier, you will find this in books on Alaska too. Harry M Walker is the author of a series of works that look at offbeat boats, log cabins, roadside attractions and even outhouses in the state. If your interest lies in cooking, you can also try 'First Catch Your Moose: The Fairbanks Cookbook' which dates from 1909.




About the Author: