This fascinating account of the development of aviation in Alaska examines the daring missions of pilots who initially opened up the territory for military positioning and later for trade and tourism. Early Alaskan military and bush pilots navigated some of the highest and most rugged terrain on earth, taking off and landing on glaciers, mudflats, and active volcanoes. Although they were consistently portrayed by industry leaders and lawmakers alike as cowboys—and their planes compared to settlers' covered wagons—the reality was that aviation catapulted Alaska onto a modern, global stage; the federal government subsidized aviation's growth in the territory as part of the Cold War defense against the Soviet Union. Through personal stories, industry publications, and news accounts, historian Katherine Johnson Ringsmuth uncovers the ways that Alaska's aviation growth was downplayed in order to perpetuate the myth of the cowboy spirit and the desire to tame what many considered to be the last frontier.
Alaska Native elders remember wartime invasion, relocation, and land reclamationThe US government justified its World War II occupation of Alaska as a defense against Japan's invasion of the Aleutian Islands, but it equally served to advance colonial expansion in relation to the geographically and culturally diverse Indigenous communities affected. Offering important Alaska Native experiences of this history, Holly Miowak Guise draws on a wealth of oral histories and interviews with Indigenous elders to explore the multidimensional relationship between Alaska Natives and the US military during the Pacific War.The forced relocation and internment of Unangax^ in 1942 proved a harbinger of Indigenous loss and suffering in World War II Alaska. Violence against Native women, assimilation and Jim Crow segregation, and discrimination against Native servicemen followed the colonial blueprint. Yet Alaska Native peoples took steps to enact their sovereignty and restore equilibrium to their lives by resisting violence and disrupting attempts at US control. Their subversive actions altered the colonial structures imposed upon them by maintaining Indigenous spaces and asserting sovereignty over their homelands.A multifaceted challenge to conventional histories, Alaska Native Resilience shares the experiences of Indigenous peoples from across Alaska to reveal long-overlooked demonstrations of Native opposition to colonialism.
Alaska Native elders remember wartime invasion, relocation, and land reclamationThe US government justified its World War II occupation of Alaska as a defense against Japan's invasion of the Aleutian Islands, but it equally served to advance colonial expansion in relation to the geographically and culturally diverse Indigenous communities affected. Offering important Alaska Native experiences of this history, Holly Miowak Guise draws on a wealth of oral histories and interviews with Indigenous elders to explore the multidimensional relationship between Alaska Natives and the US military during the Pacific War.The forced relocation and internment of Unangax^ in 1942 proved a harbinger of Indigenous loss and suffering in World War II Alaska. Violence against Native women, assimilation and Jim Crow segregation, and discrimination against Native servicemen followed the colonial blueprint. Yet Alaska Native peoples took steps to enact their sovereignty and restore equilibrium to their lives by resisting violence and disrupting attempts at US control. Their subversive actions altered the colonial structures imposed upon them by maintaining Indigenous spaces and asserting sovereignty over their homelands.A multifaceted challenge to conventional histories, Alaska Native Resilience shares the experiences of Indigenous peoples from across Alaska to reveal long-overlooked demonstrations of Native opposition to colonialism.
This fascinating account of the development of aviation in Alaska examines the daring missions of pilots who initially opened up the territory for military positioning and later for trade and tourism. Early Alaskan military and bush pilots navigated some of the highest and most rugged terrain on earth, taking off and landing on glaciers, mudflats, and active volcanoes. Although they were consistently portrayed by industry leaders and lawmakers alike as cowboys—and their planes compared to settlers' covered wagons—the reality was that aviation catapulted Alaska onto a modern, global stage; the federal government subsidized aviation's growth in the territory as part of the Cold War defense against the Soviet Union. Through personal stories, industry publications, and news accounts, historian Katherine Johnson Ringsmuth uncovers the ways that Alaska's aviation growth was downplayed in order to perpetuate the myth of the cowboy spirit and the desire to tame what many considered to be the last frontier.
For thousands of years Alaska has called to us. The hardy souls who first answered that call endured bitter temperatures, maddening isolation, and often harrowing adventures for the privilege of living there, and many lost their lives in the process. From the earliest human explorers to Russian fur trappers, from Klondike gold seekers to today's miners and oilmen, from Alaska's native people to the millions of tourists who visit the state every year, people have come to Alaska to marvel at its beauty, rejoice in its riches, and measure themselves against its challenges. The wonder of Alaska, as well as its terrifying dangers, come to life in this anthology, featuring true adventures described by some of the best writers in the world, each hand picked by bestselling writer and Alaska aficionado Spike Walker. Alaska: Tales of Adventure from the Last Frontier will open your eyes and stir your soul as it celebrates the untamed beauty of Alaska. Inside you will find unmatched tales of adventure by the following authors: Spike WalkerJack LondonLarry KaniutRoger A. CarasLew FreedmanDana StabenowGary PaulsenJean AspenAnn Mariah CookJohn MuirWashington Irving And many more...
Marvin W. Falk offers a systemic and select listing of just over 3,000 publications on the history of Alaska, published from the 18th century to early 2004. Early explorations were conducted by nationals from several nations, and the results were published in Russian, German, French, Spanish, and English. Many of these foreign language accounts have been published in translation and are included in the bibliography.This bibliography covers a wide span of Alaskan history including historical literature from: Discovery in 1741The Russian period ending in 1867The U.S. territorial period ending with statehood in 1959The oil boom
Alaska Shipwrecks: 12 Months of Disasters is a month to month accounting of the worst, largest and most interesting maritime disasters in Alaska history. Each chapter is a different month and each begins with significant statistics for that month in history. Included with the descriptions of 275 significant tragedies are word for word stories told by survivors, rescuers and other first hand observers. Particular attention has been paid to listing all of the thousands of names of persons who were lost. In some cases survivors names are included as well.
This book examines the social, economic, political, and cultural concerns surrounding the development of rural Alaska. The authors explore the controversy over rural development from a variety of perspectives—some supporting economic development and its implications for rural communities, others arguing for alternative approaches. They raise the issues of external control over local development and the effects of the boom-and-bust cycle often associated with rural change. Part 1 surveys the economic development of Alaska's resources, providing an historical overview of its fur, timber, and fishing industries and examining the current importance of oil, gas, minerals, and agricultural products. The section concludes with a discussion of the unique patterns of trade between Alaska and Asia. The second part turns to the organizations that have been, and are presently, the major vehicles for development—the village and regional corporations that grew out of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 and the non-profit organizations responsible for social services and education. The authors also discuss the increasingly important role of governmental institutions. The final section considers the conflict between the goal of economic development and traditional Native values of subsistence and cultural preservation. The authors ask whether the development of Alaska's rural regions must take place at the expense of the traditional lifestyle and cultural distinctiveness of Native society.
Alaska's Rural Development examines the social, economic, political, and cultural concerns surrounding the development of rural Alaska, exploring the controversy over rural development from a variety of perspectives.
Anthony Fiorillo has been exploring the Arctic since 1998. For him, like many others, the Arctic holds the romance of uncharted territory, extreme conditions, and the inevitable epic challenges that arise. For Fiorillo, however, the Arctic also holds the secrets of the history of life on Earth, and its fossils bring him back field season after field season in pursuit of improving human understanding of ancient history. His studies of the rocks and fossils of the Arctic shed light on a world that once was, and provide insight into what might be.
There are still a few places on the face of the globe which can legitimately be called wilderness; and it was Robert Marshall's greatest happiness to experience the solitude of these places where no man had ever set foot. This book records his trips by foot, boat, and dogsled into wilderness areas north of the Arctic Circle, exploring, mountain climbing, and mapping new territories. Marshall's account, based on letters and journals written in the field, is a vivid and personal description of his adventures in remote arctic country. There were a few literate pioneers in interior Alaska, men such as Pike, Schwatka, Stefansson, and Schrader. However, most of the explorations of the territory were made by nameless Eskimos and sourdoughs whose thoughts and deeds died with them. Robert Marshall was one of the fortunate latecomers who found a great reach of arctic wilderness to explore and who left us an exceptional chronicle of his travels. During several expeditions in Alaska in the 1930s, Marshall came upon deep canyons and primeval valleys, followed streams to their sources, and climbed great mountains of the little-explored Brooks Range. His joy was complete when, standing on some peak never before climbed, he beheld the magnificence of a wild, rugged, timeless world, filled with countless mountains and valleys previously unmapped, unnamed, and unknown. Marshall died at the age of 38; but in his lifetime he had become a leader among those who demand a stop to the devastation of forests and insist that they be administered in the public interest, with a planned consideration of their various uses, including wilderness preservation. In the continuing struggle over the proper uses of our natural heritage, Robert Marshall stands as an inspiration to all those who wish to preserve our remaining precious samples of original America. His matchless account of his explorations in the Central Brooks Range is all the more timely and necessary for public information now when the North Slope oil boom threatens with destruction the major part of this magnificent Alaska wilderness.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1970.There are still a few places on the face of the globe which can legitimately be called wilderness; and it was Robert Marshall's greatest happiness to experience the solitude of these places where no man had ever set foot. This book records his trips by fo
There are still a few places on the face of the globe which can legitimately be called wilderness; and it was Robert Marshall's greatest happiness to experience the solitude of these places where no man had ever set foot. This book records his trips by foot, boat, and dogsled into wilderness areas north of the Arctic Circle, exploring, mountain climbing, and mapping new territories. Marshall's account, based on letters and journals written in the field, is a vivid and personal description of his adventures in remote arctic country. There were a few literate pioneers in interior Alaska, men such as Pike, Schwatka, Stefansson, and Schrader. However, most of the explorations of the territory were made by nameless Eskimos and sourdoughs whose thoughts and deeds died with them. Robert Marshall was one of the fortunate latecomers who found a great reach of arctic wilderness to explore and who left us an exceptional chronicle of his travels. During several expeditions in Alaska in the 1930s, Marshall came upon deep canyons and primeval valleys, followed streams to their sources, and climbed great mountains of the little-explored Brooks Range. His joy was complete when, standing on some peak never before climbed, he beheld the magnificence of a wild, rugged, timeless world, filled with countless mountains and valleys previously unmapped, unnamed, and unknown. Marshall died at the age of 38; but in his lifetime he had become a leader among those who demand a stop to the devastation of forests and insist that they be administered in the public interest, with a planned consideration of their various uses, including wilderness preservation. In the continuing struggle over the proper uses of our natural heritage, Robert Marshall stands as an inspiration to all those who wish to preserve our remaining precious samples of original America. His matchless account of his explorations in the Central Brooks Range is all the more timely and necessary for public information now when the North Slope oil boom threatens with destruction the major part of this magnificent Alaska wilderness.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1970.There are still a few places on the face of the globe which can legitimately be called wilderness; and it was Robert Marshall's greatest happiness to experience the solitude of these places where no man had ever set foot. This book records his trips by fo
