Alaska

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In this sweeping epic of the northernmost American frontier, James A. Michener guides us through Alaska’s fierce terrain and history, from the long-forgotten past to the bustling present. As his characters struggle for survival, Michener weaves together the exciting high points of Alaska’s story: its brutal origins; the American acquisition; the gold rush; the tremendous growth and exploitation of the salmon industry; the arduous construction of the Alcan Highway, undertaken to defend the territory during World War II. A spellbinding portrait of a human community fighting to establish its place in the world, <i>Alaska </i>traces a bold and majestic saga of the enduring spirit of a land and its people. <b>Praise for <i>Alaska</i></b> “Few will escape the allure of the land and people [Michener] describes. . . . <i>Alaska </i>takes the reader on a journey through one of the bleakest, richest, most foreboding, and highly inviting territories in our Republic, if not the world. . . . The characters that Michener creates are bigger than life.”<b>—<i>Los Angeles Times Book Review</i></b> “Always the master of exhaustive historical research, Michener tracks the settling of Alaska [in] vividly detailed scenes and well-developed characters.”<b>—<i>Boston Herald</i></b> “Michener is still, sentence for sentence, writing’s fastest attention grabber.”<b>—<i>The New York Times</i></b>