Alaska by James Michener

 

Alaska

by

James Michener

     The end of March I checked out this book from the library on my kindle app.  I wanted to read it in preparation for our trip to Alaska next month.  It is a very long historical novel and spans approximately  1600 pages.  The book begins with the geological formation of the area and proceeds to the arrival of native peoples.  Then the explorers are introduced followed by the fur traders.  The purchase of the Alaskan Territory from Russia by the United States after the civil war is covered and then the late 1800s brought the gold rush which was a very colorful part of the book.  In the early 1900s salmon canneries arrived and there was explanation of political battles and the development of infrastructure in the state of Alaska.  The areas of the state are well described throughout the book and I am confident that I am much more prepared for our vacation than I was before I read the novel.  I will read more by this author.  In fact I wish I would have read his book titled Hawaii before we traveled to the Big Island last summer.  If we ever return I will read it first.  Michener wrote Alaska in 1988 but it is still great background information for anyone traveling to the state.  Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the short video that follows.  It has some interesting stories about the story teller. Anyone who hasn't read anything by James Michener is missing out.  

Sea Otters

 

Something is scheduled to happen in my life during the latter part of May.  My husband and I are headed to Alaska for a short vacation.  We will be there a week, which is a normal length for a vacation, but when considering an area the size of Alaska a week is short in relation to what all there is to see.  We will be enjoying two national parks.  In preparation for the trip I checked out James Michener's Alaska on Libby Overdrive.  It is an extremely long historical novel.  I will likely NOT get it finished before I have to return it and will end up buying it on my kindle app.  If I get it read before we leave I will be surprised.  Each chapter is the length of a short novel.  For example, chapter four is roughly 260 pages.  I have about 50 pages left in chapter four.  This chapter covers Russia's interest in Alaska beginning with exploration and going on into the fur trade's beginnings in the 1700s.   The early commercial fur traders were brutal to not only the sea otters but also the native populations. The Aleutian Islands were the area that Michener focused on in this area of his novel.  I have been looking up some additional information online this afternoon.  The library of congress has some information that can be found HERE and an Alaskan Theater/Education  Group has posted some information HERE.  Finally the Alaskan Department of Fish and Game has some sea otter information on their site HERE.  The pelt of the sea otter was especially coveted by many countries. The video that follows has information on the sea otter pelt.  I am looking forward to continuing to read this novel.