Ragged Coast, Rugged Coves explores the untold story of cannery workers in Southeast Alaska from 1878 through the Cold War, particularly how making a living was pitted against the economic realities of the day.

"Canneries are the sites of Alaska history, contends this multifaceted exploration of the salmon industry in Southeast Alaska. This thematic view includes histories of specific canneries, biographies of individuals who are nearly as colorful as the brightly hued labels that advertised Alaska salmon to the world, and essays that ground the history of canneries in the context of the era. This lushly illustrated volume contains historic photographs, custom made maps, and an unparalleled collection of rare salmon can labels and advertising materials."--Back cover.

As the enduring "last frontier," Alaska proves an indispensable context for examining the form and function of American colonialism, particularly in the shift from western continental expansion to global empire. In this richly theorized work, Juliana Hu Pegues evaluates four key historical periods in U.S.-Alaskan history: the Alaskan purchase, the Gold Rush, the emergence of salmon canneries, and the World War II era. In each, Hu Pegues recognizes colonial and racial entanglements between Alaska Native peoples and Asian immigrants. In the midst of this complex interplay, the American colonial project advanced by differentially racializing and gendering Indigenous and Asian peoples, constructing Asian immigrants as "out of place" and Alaska Natives as "out of time." Counter to this space-time colonialism, Native and Asian peoples created alternate modes of meaning and belonging through their literature, photography, political organizing, and sociality. Offering an intersectional approach to U.S. empire, Indigenous dispossession, and labor exploitation, Space-Time Colonialism makes clear that Alaska is essential to understanding both U.S. imperial expansion and the machinations of settler colonialism.