Alaska by: James A Mitchener
Oooohhhh… that was a long read. Paperback book, over a thousand pages, small print and a billion years in the making. Well not the writing of the book took a billion years but it is the time frame that the book covers. True to form in his writing style and method Mitchener goes to the dawn of time and weaves a history from the forming of continental plates, land bridges, mastodons, mammoths, first humans, etc.
It was interesting to read how the first humans came to Alaska and settled the islands and coast lines. Then the Athapascans, Tlingits and later the Eskimo followed on and took up their own respective areas. He explains what life was like in those early days. Then he quickly comes to the white man’s foray (Russian) into this vast wilderness. The story then continues to the modern era. Sale of Alaska to the U.S., two gold rushes, salmon fisheries, Japanese invasion, statehood and on and on it goes.
This book took me four months to get through. There came points where it was just a tiring read. Eventually I read the book only during those late night episodes of sleeplessness or doctor’s visits. Ha! My wife started the book before me, she is a faster reader, but still hasn’t finished the book. She stalled about 800 pages into the book. She is currently devouring other books and reader’s digest condensed stories. I enjoyed the story but like the Lord of the Rings trilogy it needs to be broken up and read at different times. This book in one straight read is just way too long. It seems to me to be one of his longest.
About his method. One giant story filled with smaller stories for each era covered. Most of the characters are fictional and are simply a representation of the types of people in the circumstances you could have come across if you were there. The story ends rather abrutly sometime in the late 1980’s.
If you are not much of a reader you should avoid this book. If you like historical fiction and don’t mind stretching your reading over a couple of months you will enjoy this book.
