In 1977 oil began to flow south from the Arctic through the controversial Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). This study considers the TAPS proposal and controversy as an extension (even a culmination) of established processes, policies, and attitudes within Alaska history, American environmental history, and the history of conservation. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In the 1970s, the world's largest construction companies invaded Alaska in a wild rush to build the 800-mile $8 billion trans-Alaska pipeline. Workers by the tens of thousands headed north, hoping to make their fortunes working on the pipeline, in a stampede that dramatically affected Alaska. With the avalanche of big money and new arrivals came new problems: drugs, prostitution, gambling, and violent crime. Rapid economic and social changes ultimately touched the lives of virtually every Alaskan. Journalist Dermot Cole, dean of the Alaska press corps, recalls the best of the pipeline stories with humor, authenticity, and drama.

WALKING MY DOG, JANE is Rozell's tribute to his adopted state and to the travel partner who carried Rozell's heart, and her own backpack, during a summer spent outdoors walking the 800-mile length of the trans-Alaska pipeline.

The actual building of the line is described and the controversial issues of environmental impact, timing, planning and accountability are discussed.

"Nothing has changed Alaska as swiftly or as traumatically as the discovery of oil. In Extreme Conditions: Big Oil and the Transformation of Alaska, Pulitzer Prize-winner John Strohmeyer writes a riveting account of how it all happened. From the icy North waters, Strohmeyer takes the reader to the inside world of post-oil Alaska and shows what tumultuous changes--for good and bad--this gusher of money and influx of people have had upon America's last great frontier. The enduring relevance of this work makes it indispensable reading in understanding the current tensions among environmentalists, businesses, and Natives that characterize Alaska today."--Back Cover.

Faith and Oil tells the story of conservative Christianity's relationship with America's oil industry. It shows how the libertarian values of big oil companies--such as government deregulation of business practices and curbing laws that protect the environment--became embedded within the theologies of the Religious Right. These theologies of oil later found their being in the public consciousness through the rise of Sarah Palin and led to the election of Donald Trump.

Little Did We Know tells the remarkable story of the Trans Alaska Pipeline through the eyes of John Miller, who shouldered responsibility for financing Sohio’s portion of the Alaskan venture that transformed the company from a small, regional oil refiner and marketer into the fifteenth largest US industrial corporation. TAPS, as the pipeline is known, carries crude oil 800 miles from the Prudhoe Bay field on the North Slope of Alaska to the ice-free port of Valdez on the state’s southern coast. Building the pipeline—one of the largest private industrial projects ever undertaken—was an incredible feat of engineering, and for Sohio, of financing. This is a saga about an engineer with no formal training in finance surmounting an onslaught of financial challenges, raising more than $6 billion over a decade—something many thought was well beyond Sohio’s capabilities.

Subzero temperatures, whiteout blizzards, and even the lack of restrooms didn’t deter them. Nor did sneers, harassment, and threats. Wildcat Women is the first book to document the life and labor of pioneering women in the oil fields of Alaska’s North Slope. It profiles fourteen women who worked in the fields, telling a little-known history of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. These trailblazers conquered their fears to face hazardous working and living conditions, performing and excelling at “a man’s job in a man’s world.” They faced down challenges on and off the job: they drove buses over ice roads through snowstorms; wrestled with massive pipes; and operated dangerous valves that put their lives literally in their hands; they also fought union hall red tape, challenged discriminatory practices, and fought for equal pay—and sometimes won. The women talk about the roads that brought them to this unusual career, where they often gave up comfort and convenience and felt isolated and alienated. They also tell of the lifelong friendships and sense of family that bonded these unlikely wildcats. The physical and emotional hardship detailed in these stories exemplifies their courage, tenacity, resilience, and leadership, and shows how their fight for recognition and respect benefited woman workers everywhere.

Marilyn Forrester arrived in Alaska in 1977 with a goal of striking it rich by being a welder on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. With her traumatic divorce behind her, a new English degree, return airline ticket, and $200 in her pocket, she was ready for adventure. However, she didn’t do welding, but had unique and exciting adventures as she worked for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company in Anchorage, at Pump Station Five, and later at Prudhoe Bay. While working at Prudhoe Bay, she applied for a teaching position at Alaska Business College, and was immediately hired. Marilyn discovered she loved teaching and learning! After many humorous predicaments, she was hired at the Bush village of Napaskiak. As a teacher, Marilyn has a deep love for children that shines through in Teaching at the Top of the World. Sometimes Marilyn reflected, “And they are even paying me to do this job.” She became an advocate for her Special Education students. Her many adventures include being lost in a whiteout while walking home from school, showering without soap and drying with Kleenex, and golfing in the Nome Bering Sea Tournament. Teaching at the Top of the World chronicles the joys and hardships of living and teaching in remote Alaska. Perhaps she really did strike it rich—she affected the lives of hundreds of children.Marilyn was one of the writers featured in Alaska Women Write, a collection of stories about adventurous Alaska women.