A bracing, happy view of Alaska and Alaskans prior to a couple little changes like new oil drilling and Star Wars outposts....
Veteran travel-writer Jenkins (Along the Edge of America, 1995, etc.) looks for Alaska and finds an idealized America: sparsely populated with hardy individualists in majestic scenery.
For more than a year, the author and family members lived in the northernmost state during all seasons, balmy or frigid, through sunshine or blizzard. Based in Seward, eager as an Iditarod dog, he journeyed through tundra, bush, and mountain, north and south of the Arctic Circle from Cordova to Tok, Kotzebue to Unalakleet. The vistas he saw are picturesque and, reminiscent of TV’s Northern Exposure, the people distinctive. If Jenkins ever met any men or women he didn’t like, they weren’t in Alaska (except, perhaps, for a passing census worker). He found flannel-shirted Alaskans, whether immigrant or native—wanderers, teachers, hunters, fishermen, pilots, civil servants, Haida or Tlinglit—to be stalwart, generous, and noble. A typical nice guy, for example, was “sort of godlike.” And that’s just the people. Domestic animals and the author took a liking to each other, too. The whales, moose, and brown bears offered no opinion, though from his side Jenkins expresses a healthy respect for the magnificence of wildlife. On an Alaskan high, he is unmatched by Jack London or Robert W. Service, and the result is as persuasive as an avalanche. The writing, including some nice contributions by a 20-year-old daughter, is effective in spite of some incorrect personal pronouns and a disconcerting habit of omitting the requisite preposition after “couple”—it’s “a couple snow machines” or “a couple dogs” throughout). The tome, big like the state, will be a revelation to many, including the author’s neighbors back in Tennessee.
A bracing, happy view of Alaska and Alaskans prior to a couple little changes like new oil drilling and Star Wars outposts. A very appealing tour for stay-at-home outdoorspeople. (16-page color insert, not seen)Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2001
ISBN: 0-312-26178-0
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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