Alaska (novel)
Encyclopedia
Alaska is a historical novel
by James A. Michener
. Like other Michener titles, Alaska spans a considerable amount of time.
, 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.
The city of Los Angeles is now some twenty-four hundred miles south of central Alaska, and since it is moving slowly northward as the San Andreas fault slides irresistibly along, the city is destined eventually to become part of Alaska. If the movement is two inches a year, which it often is, we can expect Los Angeles to arrive off Anchorage in about seventy-six million years.
s, sabre-toothed tigers and woolly mammoth
s as they make their way into Alaska via the land bridge. First, the animals are discussed in general terms. Then, in the second half of the chapter, the reader learns about a specific mammoth named Mastadon, and another named Matriarch. The plot follows Matriarch and her family, as they encounter man for the first time.
, but not before she is brutally abused by one sailor in particular. On Kodiak, she consults with a shaman and his mummy and decides to seek revenge upon this man by converting to Christianity to marry him when he returns to Kodiak, believing that she can humiliate him by refusing to marry him at the last moment. However, she goes through with the wedding and becomes a battered wife. A priest on Kodiak falls in love with her, and after her husband is killed by a great tidal wave, Cidaq (rechristened Sofia) marries the priest, who changes his relationship with the church to become the kind of priest who can marry. At the end of the chapter, Michener states that Christianity won over shamanism, but in the process, the population of native people dwindled from more than 18,000 to fewer than 1,200.
. The events are shown through the eyes of a Native named Raven-heart and an Arkady Voronov, the son of Father Vornov and Sofia Kuchovskaya (formerly Cidaq). Arkady Voronov marries a Russian woman who moves to Alaska, and together they navigate the Yukon River
. The chapter also explains the death of Alexander Baranov and ends with the purchase of Alaska
by the United States of America.
, a missionary, travels to Alaska to further establish it as a state, with the help of Senator Benjamin Harrison
. He sets about establishing Christian missions of various denominations to further spread Christianity to the native people of Alaska.
and his fatal duel with Frank Reid. It also details the hardships of crossing the Chilkoot Pass
.
, and Tom Venn and his stepmother Missy pick up their stakes and move there. Tom is appointed manager of a branch of Ross and Raglan, a store that sells food and outdoor supplies. Missy's boyfriend Matt Murphy joins Tom and Missy in Nome, arriving there via bicycle. Although these characters are fictitious, the bike trip is based on the real bike trek of Max Hirshberg in 1900, and the troubles of gold mine thieving with judicial collusion is based upon the politician Alexander McKenzie
and Judge Arthur H. Noyes.
and under Seattle business control. In the end President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
signs the Alaska Statehood Act
, making Alaska the 49th state of the Union.
, pages 102–103, and inside back cover). There is also an amount of calligraphy
. The maps are credited to Jean Paul Tremblay. Carole Lowenstein is responsible for the book's physical and calligraphy.
-shaped sketch of items easily identifiable with the state of Alaska
.
They include (clockwise
):
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.
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
by James A. Michener
James A. Michener
James Albert Michener was an American author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which were sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating historical facts into the stories...
. Like other Michener titles, Alaska spans a considerable amount of time.
Plot introduction
Published in 1988 by Random HouseRandom House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, 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.
Chapter I: The Clashing Terranes
A sweeping description of the formation of the North American continent. The reader follows the development of the Alaskan terrain over millennia.The city of Los Angeles is now some twenty-four hundred miles south of central Alaska, and since it is moving slowly northward as the San Andreas fault slides irresistibly along, the city is destined eventually to become part of Alaska. If the movement is two inches a year, which it often is, we can expect Los Angeles to arrive off Anchorage in about seventy-six million years.
Chapter II: The Ice Castle
The plot of this chapter follows the mastodonMastodon
Mastodons were large tusked mammal species of the extinct genus Mammut which inhabited Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Central America from the Oligocene through Pleistocene, 33.9 mya to 11,000 years ago. The American mastodon is the most recent and best known species of the group...
s, sabre-toothed tigers and woolly mammoth
Woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is a species of mammoth. This animal is known from bones and frozen carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia...
s as they make their way into Alaska via the land bridge. First, the animals are discussed in general terms. Then, in the second half of the chapter, the reader learns about a specific mammoth named Mastadon, and another named Matriarch. The plot follows Matriarch and her family, as they encounter man for the first time.
Chapter III: People of the North
The reader meets some of the early Eskimos, particularly a man named Oogruk and his family. The chapter details the hunting of a whale as well as the beginning of hunting sea otters for fur by the Russians.Chapter IV: The Explorers
This chapter tells of the early exploration of Alaska along with Russia's first encounters with the native peoples, including the brutal slaughter of many native people and sea otters.Chapter V: The Duel
The duel referred to in the chapter's title is the one between the shamanism of the native people and the Christianity of the Russian settlers. After the men from one tribe are taken away to aid in hunting, the women and babies are left to fend for themselves. They learn to pilot kayaks, something that had been forbidden to them, and ultimately harpoon a small whale to ensure their survival. After the Russians return, a girl named Cidaq is "purchased" and taken to Kodiak IslandKodiak Island
Kodiak Island is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the United States and the 80th largest island in the world, with an...
, but not before she is brutally abused by one sailor in particular. On Kodiak, she consults with a shaman and his mummy and decides to seek revenge upon this man by converting to Christianity to marry him when he returns to Kodiak, believing that she can humiliate him by refusing to marry him at the last moment. However, she goes through with the wedding and becomes a battered wife. A priest on Kodiak falls in love with her, and after her husband is killed by a great tidal wave, Cidaq (rechristened Sofia) marries the priest, who changes his relationship with the church to become the kind of priest who can marry. At the end of the chapter, Michener states that Christianity won over shamanism, but in the process, the population of native people dwindled from more than 18,000 to fewer than 1,200.
Chapter VI: Lost Worlds
This chapter further details the clashes between the Native people and the Russians, most specifically the Battle of SitkaBattle of Sitka
The Battle of Sitka was the last major armed conflict between Europeans and Alaska Natives, and was initiated in response to the destruction of a Russian trading post two years prior...
. The events are shown through the eyes of a Native named Raven-heart and an Arkady Voronov, the son of Father Vornov and Sofia Kuchovskaya (formerly Cidaq). Arkady Voronov marries a Russian woman who moves to Alaska, and together they navigate the Yukon River
Yukon River
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...
. The chapter also explains the death of Alexander Baranov and ends with the purchase of Alaska
Alaska purchase
The Alaska Purchase was the acquisition of the Alaska territory by the United States from Russia in 1867 by a treaty ratified by the Senate. The purchase, made at the initiative of United States Secretary of State William H. Seward, gained of new United States territory...
by the United States of America.
Chapter VII: Giants in Chaos
This chapter shows the clash between two rival ship captains, Captains Schransky and Michael Healy. Meanwhile, Reverend Sheldon JacksonSheldon Jackson
Sheldon Jackson was a Presbyterian missionary who also became a political leader. During this career he travelled about 1 million miles and established over 100 missions and churches in the Western United States. He is best remembered for his extensive work during the final quarter of the 19th...
, a missionary, travels to Alaska to further establish it as a state, with the help of Senator Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...
. He sets about establishing Christian missions of various denominations to further spread Christianity to the native people of Alaska.
Chapter VIII: Gold
The eighth chapter tells of the chaos surrounding the Alaskan gold rush using the fictitious Venn family and a prospector named John Klope. It mentions the real character of Soapy SmithSoapy Smith
Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II was an American con artist and gangster who had a major hand in the organized criminal operations of Denver, Colorado; Creede, Colorado; and Skagway, Alaska, from 1879 to 1898. He was killed in the famed Shootout on Juneau Wharf...
and his fatal duel with Frank Reid. It also details the hardships of crossing the Chilkoot Pass
Chilkoot Pass
Chilkoot Pass is a high mountain pass through the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains in the U.S. state of Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest point along the Chilkoot Trail that leads from Dyea, Alaska to Bennett Lake, British Columbia...
.
Chapter IX: The Golden Beaches of Nome
Gold is discovered in NomeNome, Alaska
Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. According to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the...
, and Tom Venn and his stepmother Missy pick up their stakes and move there. Tom is appointed manager of a branch of Ross and Raglan, a store that sells food and outdoor supplies. Missy's boyfriend Matt Murphy joins Tom and Missy in Nome, arriving there via bicycle. Although these characters are fictitious, the bike trip is based on the real bike trek of Max Hirshberg in 1900, and the troubles of gold mine thieving with judicial collusion is based upon the politician Alexander McKenzie
Alexander McKenzie (American politician)
Alexander John McKenzie was a politician in early North Dakota. He preferred not to serve in public office, but was highly influential in North Dakota and in neighboring Montana and Minnesota...
and Judge Arthur H. Noyes.
Chapter X: Salmon
This chapter describes the formation and operation of a fictional company's cannery (an Alaskan first) on the Taku Inlet when Ross and Raglan appoint Tom Venn to be in charge of the cannery, the fishing and the Chinese laborers. Along the way, the company clashes with local members of the Tlingit tribe, whose fishing rights are being encroached upon. Tom begins on-and-off romances with two girls; one is Lydia Ross, the daughter of the owner of Ross and Raglan, and the other is Nancy Bigears, the daughter of a local Tlingit of whom Tom is very fond. At the end of the chapter, the reader learns that Tom marries Lydia, and that Nancy marries Ah Ting, a Chinese man who was once employed as a foreman at the salmon cannery before striking out on his own.Chapter XI: The Railbelt
In 1919, a government official arrives in a small town of Minnesota made up of immigrants of Swedish and Finnish descent, as well as those who have been in the United States for several generations. He recruits a group of families to move to Alaska and settle in the Matanuska Valley, where they will be provided with land that they will not begin to pay on for at least three years, as long as they promise to farm. This chapter follows the Flatch family closely, especially the children. LeRoy Flatch grows up to become a bush pilot and Flossie is an animal lover who falls in love with a local "half-breed" man of white and Eskimo descent.Chapter XII: The Rim of Fire
In a typical James Michener fashion, the final chapter is an interaction between various characters in preceding chapter or their descendants. Alaska is in the process of applying for statehood. Missy remains on the side advocating for statehood, while Tom Venn petitioned to keep Alaska a territoryAlaska Territory
The Territory of Alaska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 24, 1912, until January 3, 1959, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Alaska...
and under Seattle business control. In the end President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
signs the Alaska Statehood Act
Alaska Statehood Act
The Alaska Statehood Act was signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 7, 1958, allowing Alaska to become the 49th U.S. state on January 3, 1959.-History: the road to Statehood:...
, making Alaska the 49th state of the Union.
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.- Vitus BeringVitus BeringVitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering (also, less correNavy]], a captain-komandor known among the Russian sailors as Ivan Ivanovich. He is noted for being the first European to discover Alaska and its Aleutian Islands...
and the Bering StraitBering StraitThe Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,... - Alexander Andreyevich Baranov
- James CookJames CookCaptain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
- Kodiak IslandKodiak IslandKodiak Island is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the United States and the 80th largest island in the world, with an...
- The Tlingit people
- Battle of Sitka
- Dmitri Petrovich MaksutovDmitri Petrovich MaksutovPrince Dmitry Petrovich Maksutov was an Imperial Russian Navy rear-admiral who was the last Governor of Russian America . He has streets dedicated to his memory in Sitka and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky....
- The Yukon River
- The Reverend Sheldon JacksonSheldon JacksonSheldon Jackson was a Presbyterian missionary who also became a political leader. During this career he travelled about 1 million miles and established over 100 missions and churches in the Western United States. He is best remembered for his extensive work during the final quarter of the 19th...
- The settlement in Matanuska Valley
Drawings and maps
Throughout the novel are drawings (at the beginnings of chapters) and maps (frontispieceBook frontispiece
A frontispiece is a decorative illustration facing a book's title page. The frontispiece is the verso opposite the recto title page. Elaborate engraved frontispieces were in frequent use, especially in Bibles and in scholarly books, and many are masterpieces of engraving...
, pages 102–103, and inside back cover). There is also an amount of calligraphy
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
. 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 ovalOval
An oval is any curve resembling an egg or an ellipse, such as a Cassini oval. The term does not have a precise mathematical definition except in one area oval , but it may also refer to:* A sporting arena of oval shape** a cricket field...
-shaped sketch of items easily identifiable with the state of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
.
They include (clockwise
Clockwise
Circular motion can occur in two possible directions. A clockwise motion is one that proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands: from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back to the top...
):
- 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 icebergIcebergAn iceberg is a large piece of ice from freshwater that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice...
- calm, highly-reflective water
- a small figure in a kayakKayakA kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...
- 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
Sheldon Jackson College
Sheldon Jackson College was a small private college located on Baranof Island in Sitka, Alaska, United States. Founded in 1878, it was the oldest institution of higher learning in Alaska and maintained a historic relationship with the Presbyterian Church. The college was named in honor of Rev...
in Sitka, Alaska.