McPhee wrote the book in 1977 after touring some of the state’s most rugged natural areas and witnessing major transitions underway, such as the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and plans for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. For a real look into the heart of Alaska’s wilderness and its people, John McPhee’s “Coming into the Country” is a classic. I selected “Coming into the Country,” “Into Great Silence” and “A Land Gone Lonesome.” In the face of climate change, industrial development and other human pressures, these books provide an appreciation of the cultural and natural values of America’s Arctic state, which we should heartily defend against these and future threats.ĭespite my love for Alaska, I cannot recommend Alaska-based reality shows. Here I recommend a smattering of history and geography, nature and science to ground readers in the beauty, richness and change in the Great Land. I have made my home in Anchorage for the past 11 years.Įxplorers, biologists, poets and others have written thousands of books about Alaska.

I first traveled beyond the Arctic Circle in 1998, when I flew in a small plane over the snow-covered Brooks Range and landed on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In Alaska, the fourth stop of a literary tour of the Arctic, World Wildlife Fund’s Margaret Williams finds an appreciation for nature, history and culture, and offers a reminder that when change is unseen, our sense of the wildness of a landscape is unknowingly clouded.

Amnesia through the portal