Walter Harper, Alaska Native Sonilluminates the life of the remarkable Irish-Athabascan man who was the first person to summit Mount Denali, North America's tallest mountain. Born in 1893, Walter ...Harper was the youngest child of Jenny Albert and the legendary gold prospector Arthur Harper. His parents separated shortly after his birth, and his mother raised Walter in the Athabascan tradition, speaking her Koyukon-Athabascan language. When Walter was seventeen years old, Episcopal archdeacon Hudson Stuck hired the skilled and charismatic youth as his riverboat pilot and winter trail guide. During the following years, as the two traveled among Interior Alaska's Episcopal missions, they developed a father-son-like bond and summited Denali together in 1913.Walter's strong Athabascan identity allowed him to remain grounded in his birth culture as his Western education expanded, and he became a leader and a bridge between Alaska Native peoples and Westerners in the Alaska territory. He planned to become a medical missionary in Interior Alaska, but his life was cut short at the age of twenty-five, in thePrincess Sophiadisaster of 1918 near Skagway, Alaska.Harper exemplified resilience during an era when rapid socioeconomic and cultural change was wreaking havoc in Alaska Native villages. Today he stands equally as an exemplar of Athabascan manhood and healthy acculturation to Western lifeways whose life will resonate with today's readers.
This comprehensive text is a major synthesis on ecological change in the Gulf of Alaska. It encompasses the structural and annual changes, forces of change, long-ecological changes in the atmosphere ...and ocean, plankton, fish, birds and mammals, and the effects of the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. With 5 major sections, Long-term Ecological Change in the Northern Gulf of Alaska first describes the physical features, the atmosphere and physical oceanography, the annual production cycle, the forage base for higher animals and trophic transfer, and the adaptations for survival in this changing environment for 9 portal species. Then, the major forces of change are introduced: climate, geophysics, fisheries and harvesting, species interactions, disease and contaminants. Next, the long-term records of change in physical factors and biological populations are presented, as well as the potential reasons for the biological changes. Following is the history of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and its long-term effects. And, finally, the emergent properties of the ecosystem are discussed and an attempt is made to weigh the importance of the major forcing factors in terms of their temporal and spatial scales of influence.* Examines important data on long-term change in the ecosystem and the forcing factors that are responsible for it * Provides an account of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill with emphasis on the long-term effects * Describes the effects of climate change, geophysical change, species interactions, harvesting, disease, the 1989 oil spill, and marine contaminants on key populations of marine organisms
Reaching 20,320 feet into and above the clouds, the peak of
Denali is the highest and coldest summit in North America. In this
novel of adventure, adversity, and ambition by renowned mountaineer
and ...writer Nicholas O'Connell, four men set out to conquer it.
Among the sharply drawn team members is narrator John Walker, a
family man trying to choose between domestic stability and
mountaineering's uncertain glory. In the course of their ascent the
group battles avalanches, fierce winds, and mind-numbing cold
before their bond begins to splinter, leading inexorably to
tragedy.
Throughout the book, the author's first-hand experience lends vivid
reality to the formidable challenges of the mountain and to the
bonds formed and broken in the pursuit of its summit. Beyond the
physical tolls, O'Connell presents in stark relief the internal
debate about the price of success-all the more urgent at the
earth's extremes.
Picture Man Thomas, Margaret
04/2015, Letnik:
50702
eBook
In 1912, Shoki Kayamori and his box camera arrived in a small
Tlingit village in southeast Alaska. At a time when Asian
immigrants were forbidden to own property and faced intense racial
pressure, ...the Japanese-born Kayamori put down roots and became part
of the Yakutat community. For three decades he photographed daily
life in the village, turning his lens on locals and migrants alike,
and gaining the nickname "Picture Man." But as World War II drew
near, his passion for photography turned dangerous, as government
officials called out Kayamori as a potential spy. Despondent,
Kayamori committed suicide, leaving behind an enigmatic
photographic legacy. In Picture Man , Margaret Thomas views
Kayamori's life through multiple lenses. Using Kayamori's original
photos, she explores the economic and political realities that sent
Kayamori and thousands like him out of Japan toward opportunity and
adventure in the United States, especially the Pacific Northwest.
She reveals the tensions around Asian immigrants on the West Coast
and the racism that sent many young men north to work in the
canneries of Alaska. And she illuminates the intersecting-and at
times conflicting-lives of villagers and migrants in a time of
enormous change. Part history, part biography, part photographic
showcase, Picture Man offers a fascinating new view of
Alaska history.
Decades before the marches and victories of the 1960s, a group of
Alaska Natives were making civil rights history. Throughout the
early twentieth century, the Alaska Native Brotherhood fought for
...citizenship, voting rights, and education for all Alaska Natives,
securing unheard-of victories in a contentious time. Their unified
work and legal prowess propelled the Alaska Native Claims
Settlement Act, one of the biggest claim settlements in United
States history. A Dangerous Idea tells an
overlooked but powerful story of Alaska Natives fighting for their
rights under American law and details one of the rare successes for
Native Americans in their nearly two-hundred-year effort to define
and protect their rights.
Subzero temperatures, whiteout blizzards, and even the lack of
restrooms didn't deter them. Nor did sneers, harassment, and
threats. Wildcat Women is the first book to document the
life and labor of ...pioneering women in the oil fields of Alaska's
North Slope. It profiles fourteen women who worked in the fields,
telling a little-known history of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. These
trailblazers conquered their fears to face hazardous working and
living conditions, performing and excelling at "a man's job in a
man's world." They faced down challenges on and off the job: they
drove buses over ice roads through snowstorms; wrestled with
massive pipes; and operated dangerous valves that put their lives
literally in their hands; they also fought union hall red tape,
challenged discriminatory practices, and fought for equal pay-and
sometimes won. The women talk about the roads that brought them to
this unusual career, where they often gave up comfort and
convenience and felt isolated and alienated. They also tell of the
lifelong friendships and sense of family that bonded these unlikely
wildcats. The physical and emotional hardship detailed in these
stories exemplifies their courage, tenacity, resilience, and
leadership, and shows how their fight for recognition and respect
benefited woman workers everywhere.
Through Their Eyes Michael Koskey, Varpu Lotvonen, Laurel Tyrrell / Michael Koskey, Varpu Lotvonen, Laurel Tyrrell
08/2018
eBook
The towns of Eagle, Circle, and Central are tucked away in the
cold, rugged, and sparsely populated central-eastern interior of
Alaska. These communities have fewer than three hundred residents
in an ...area of more than 22,000 square miles. Yet they are closely
linked by the Yukon River and by history itself. Through their
Eyes is a glimpse into the past and present of these
communities, showing how their survival has depended on centuries
of cooperation. The towns have roots in the gold rushes but they
are also located within the traditional territories of the Hän
Hwëch'in, the Gwichyaa Gwich'in, and Denduu Gwich'in Dena
(Athabascan) peoples. Over time, residents have woven together new
heritages, adopting and practicing each other's traditions. This
book combines oral accounts with archival research to create a rich
portrayal of life in rural Alaska villages. Many of the stories
come directly from the residents of these communities, giving an
inside perspective on the often colorful events that characterize
life in Eagle, Circle, and Central.
In Russian Colonization of Alaska: Baranov's Era,
1799-1818 , Andrei Val'terovich Grinëv examines the
sociohistorical origins of the former Russian colonies in Alaska,
or "Russian America." The ...formation of the Russian-American Company
and the concentration in the hands of Aleksandr Baranov of all the
power in south and southeast Alaska's Russian settlements marked a
new stage in the history of Russian America. Expanding and
strengthening Russian possessions in the New World as much as
possible, Baranov acted in favor of his country before himself, in
accordance with the principle "people for the empire, and not the
empire for the people." Russian Colonization of Alaska is
the first comprehensive study to analyze the origin and evolution
of Russian colonization based on research into political economy,
history, and ethnography. Grinëv's study elaborates the social,
political, spiritual, ideological, personal, and psychological
aspects of Russian America, accounting for the idiosyncrasies of
the natural environment, competition from other North American
empires, and challenges from Alaska Natives and individual colonial
diplomats. Rather than being simply a continuation of Russians'
colonization of Siberia, the colonization of Alaska was instead
part of overarching Russian and global history.
In his final, major publication Ernest S. "Tiger" Burch Jr.
reconstructs the distribution of caribou herds in northwest Alaska
using data and information from research conducted over the past
several ...decades as well as sources that predate western science by
more than one hundred years. Additionally, he explores human and
natural factors that contributed to the demise and recovery of
caribou and reindeer populations during this time. Burch provides
an exhaustive list of published and unpublished literature and
interviews that will intrigue laymen and experts alike. The
unflinching assessment of the roles that humans and wolves played
in the dynamics of caribou and reindeer herds will undoubtedly
strike a nerve. Supplemental essays before and after the unfinished
work add context about the author, the project of the book, and the
importance of both.
From the 1780s to the 1820s, Kodiak Island, the first capital of Imperial Russia's only overseas colony, was inhabited by indigenous Alutiiq people and colonized by Russians. Together, they ...established an ethnically mixed "kreol" community. Against the backdrop of the fur trade, the missionary work of the Russian Orthodox Church, and competition among Pacific colonial powers, Gwenn A. Miller brings to light the social, political, and economic patterns of life in the settlement, making clear that Russia's modest colonial effort off the Alaskan coast fully depended on the assistance of Alutiiq people.
In this context, Miller argues, the relationships that developed between Alutiiq women and Russian men were critical keys to the initial success of Russia's North Pacific venture. Although Russia's Alaskan enterprise began some two centuries after other European powers-Spain, England, Holland, and France-started to colonize North America, many aspects of the contacts between Russians and Alutiiq people mirror earlier colonial episodes: adaptation to alien environments, the "discovery" and exploitation of natural resources, complicated relations between indigenous peoples and colonizing Europeans, attempts by an imperial state to moderate those relations, and a web of Christianizing practices. Russia's Pacific colony, however, was founded on the cusp of modernity at the intersection of earlier New World forms of colonization and the bureaucratic age of high empire. Miller's attention to the coexisting intimacy and violence of human connections on Kodiak offers new insights into the nature of colonialism in a little-known American outpost of European imperial power.
