Authentic Alaska

Voices of Its Native Writers

by Susan Andrews

“These are gritty, forthright narratives about late-twentieth-century life in remote Alaska. . . . A wonderful collection indeed!”—Julie Cruikshank, author of The Social Life of Stories: Narrative and Knowledge in the Yukon Territory (Nebraska 1998) and Life Lived Like a Story: Life Stories of Three Yukon Native Elders (Nebraska 1991).

“These stories add a new dimension to the genre of Native American literature.”—Robin Ridington, coauthor of Blessing for a Long Time: The Sacred Pole of the Omaha Tribe (Nebraska 1997).

In this lively and sometimes poignant collection of essays and autobiographies, nearly fifty Alaska Native writers tell of their unique way of life and bear witness to the sweeping cultural changes occurring in their lifetimes.

They explore a range of experiences and issues, including skinning a polar bear; traditional domestic and subsistence practices; marriage customs; alcoholism; the challenges and opportunities of modern education; balancing traditional and contemporary demands; discrimination; adapting to urban life; the treatment of Native peoples in school textbooks; and the social realities of speaking standard and “village” English.

With its fresh perspectives and unfailingly authentic voices, this collection is essential for an understanding of Alaska Native peoples today.

Susan B. Andrews and John Creed are award-winning journalists and associate professors in the humanities at the Chukchi campus of the University of Alaska in Kotzebue.

224 pp — ©1998