Alaska is a historical novel by James A. Michener. Like other Michener titles, Alaska spans a considerable amount of time.
Plot introduction
Published in 1988 by Random House, Alaska is 868 pages long. Along with the reading, Michener provides a table of contents, a list of acknowledgements, and a Fact and Fiction section. The third item offers the reader an insight into what occurred in real life and what the author invented.
Plot summary
Chapter I: The Clashing Terranes
A sweeping, yet compelling, description of the formation of the North American continent. The reader follows the development of the Alaskan terrain over millennia.
Chapter II: The Ice Castle
Chapter III: People of the North
Chapter IV: The Explorers
Tells of the early exploration of Alaska along with "civilization's" first encounters with the native peoples.
Chapter V: The Duel
Chapter VI: Lost Worlds
Chapter VII: Giants in Chaos
Chapter VIII: Gold
Tells of the chaos surrounding the Alaskan gold rush.
Chapter IX: The Golden Beaches of Nome
Chapter X: Salmon
Describes the formation and operation of a fictional company's cannery (an Alaskan first) on the Taku Inlet.
Chapter XI: The Railbelt
Chapter XII: The Rim of Fire
Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
Michener uses factual people or places in fictional events. He also invents characters and places like any other novelist. Alaska is not a history textbook.
Acknowledgements
- Dr. Jean Aigner -- early peoples
- Layton Bennett -- transportation
- Price Brower -- Will Rogers memorial near Nome, Alaska
- Randy Crosby -- see Price Brower, above
- David Finley -- education above the Arctic Circle
- Dr. David Hopkins -- Beringia
- Joe Horiskey -- mountaineering
- Kim Johnson-Bogart -- Michener's "word-processing wizard"
- Dr. Timothy Joiner -- salmon
- Mary Ann Kaelke -- provided lodging for the author
- Mike Kaelke -- see Mary Ann Kaelke, above
- Dee McKenna -- the Nome gold rush
- Bob Reeve -- the Aleutian Islands
- Prof. Frank Roth -- Mike Healy and Sheldon Jackson
- Tom Rupert -- the Yukon River
- Elva Scott -- life at low temperatures (-42°F)
- Officer Pete Spence -- Three Saints Bay
- Dr. David Stone -- terranes
- Officer Tom Walters -- see Pete Spence, above
- Ken Ward -- salmon canneries
- Jonathan Waterman -- Denali
Trivia
Drawings and maps
Throughout the novel are drawings (at the beginnings of chapters) and maps (frontispiece, pages 102-103, and inside back cover). There is also an amount of impressive calligraphy. The maps are credited to Jean Paul Tremblay. Carole Lowenstein is responsible for the book's physical and calligraphy.
Jacket design
The jacket of Alaska features an illustration on the front and a photograph of Michener on the back. The illustration is an oval-shaped sketch of items easily identifiable with the state of Alaska.
They include (clockwise):
- a snow-capped mountain
- a sky of pink, orange, and yellow hues
- an amphibious airplane (known as a 'bush plane' in the state)
- a dark gray-green hill
- a floating, craggy iceberg
- calm, highly-reflective water
- a small figure in a kayak
- a tiny village at the foot of another hill
The photograph of James Michener, on the back cover, was taken not too long before his death in 1997. The jacket design and aforementioned sketch are credited to Wendell Minor. Michener's picture is credited to Michael A. Lewis of the Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska.
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| Novels: |
The Fires of Spring (1949) • Return to Paradise (1951) • The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1953) • The Floating World (1954) • Sayonara (1954) • The Bridge at Andau (1957) • Hawaii (1959) • Caravans (1963) • The Source (1965) • The Drifters (1971) • Centennial (1974) • Chesapeake (1978) • The Covenant (1980) • Space (1982) • Poland (1983) • Texas (1985) • Legacy (1987) • Alaska (1988) • Caribbean (1989) • Journey (1989) • The Novel (1991) • Mexico (1992) • Recessional (1994) • Matecumbe (2007) |
| Non Fiction: |
The Future of the Social Studies (1939) • The Voice of Asia (1951) • Rascals in Paradise (1957) • Report of the Country Chairman (1961) • Iberia (1968) • Presidential Lottery (1969) • The Quality of Life (1970) • (1971) • Sports in America (1976) • (1978) • United States of America (1982) • (1983) • All We Did Was Fly to the Moon (1985) • Six Days in Havana (1989) • (1990) • The Eagle and The Raven (1990) • My Lost Mexico (1992) • The World is My Home (1992) • Writer's Handbook (1992) • Creatures of the Kingdom (1993) • Literary Reflections (1993) • William Penn (1994) • Ventures in Editing (1995) • Miracle in Seville (1995) • This Noble Land (1996) • A Century of Sonnets (1997) |
| Short story collections: |
Tales of the South Pacific (1947) • Selected Writings of James Michener (1978) |
| Film, TV and theatrical adaptations: |
South Pacific (musical) (1949) • The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1953) • Sayonara (1957) • South Pacific (film) (1958) • Hawaii (film) (1966) • Centennial (miniseries) (1978) • Space (miniseries) (1985) |
| about Michener: |
(1985) • (1996) • (2005) |
