In Travelers' Tales Alaska, contemporary adventurers, seekers, and lifelong Alaskans take you into the "Last Frontier" for wild and poignant adventures. Walk among bears, witness the Inupiat taking of a bowhead whale, and spend time "weathered-in" on the Bering Sea coast. Follow the seasons of commercial fisherfolk in the world's most dangerous seas, sail the Inside Passage, or flight-see with bush pilots famed for high-stakes navigation around Denali, North America's highest mountain. Discover the 49th state’s quirky side, including an entire town that lives in a single World War II-vintage high-rise, a "Hairy Man" who roams the Bush, and backcountry gourmands who communicate with edible plants. Drive the Alaska Highway or head north along the pipeline Haul Road to the Arctic coast, not simply to get there, but to be there. Get the inside view as Alaskans share their stories of learning a new land or guiding tourists through Native culture. Whether you choose camping at Wal-Mart or casting for grayling on a lake named Paradise, whether you travel the Great Land in actuality or in your armchair, these stories bring Alaska alive, in all its latter-day complexity and glory.

During his numerous travels across the North America John Muir left behind a several travel books and travel reports. In September 1867, Muir undertook a walk of about 1,000 miles from Indiana to Florida, which he recounted in his book A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf. He had no specific route chosen, except to go by the "wildest, leafiest, and least trodden way I could find. Upon coming to California Muir immediately left for a visit to Yosemite, a place he had only read about. His hiking journeys through the mountains, valleys,forests andglaciersof Sierra are vividly described in books My First Summer in the Sierra and The Mountains of California. Muir also made four trips to Alaska and he documented these experiences in books Travels in Alaska and The Cruise of the Corwin. Steep Trails is collection of Muir's papers written during his journeysover a period of twenty-nine years collected by William Frederic Badè. Table of Contents: A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf My First Summer in the Sierra The Mountains of California Travels in Alaska The Cruise of the Corwin Steep Trails John Muir (1838-1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountainsof California, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is a prominent American conservation organization.

These stories of travel in Central America -- Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama -- are adventurous and quirky, sobering and enlightening. Readers visit a Panamanian island known for its wildlife; glimpse the wealthy Generation X repatriates of Nicaragua; and meet a charming Guatemalan revolutionary. Authors include Paul Theroux, Jennifer Harbury, Ronald Wright, Joan Didion, Randy Wayne White, and Rigoberta Menchu. Travelers' Tales Central America provides a new window into this astonishingly beautiful and complex part of the world. "For the thoughtful traveler, these books are an invaluable resource." -- Pico Iyer

Moving to Alaska is a novel which is told by the hero of the novel, Ritchie Jenkins the Younger, in moments of reminiscing his travels with his father to Alaska and then alone back to Vermont. Thereafter, there are repeated travels back and forth between Vermont and Alaska. The Alaskan territory is differently expressed by Ritchie Jenkins the Younger than by his father Ritchie Jenkins the Elder, who has an intense love of the land. The focus is initially on Ritchie Jenkins the Younger’s total dislike of Alaska and gradually his liking of the land until he is completely in love with it. Acknowledgment is given to bookstores or book-selling establishments—those in Juneau and in Anchorage, Alaska, and in Carcross, Yukon Territory—and to the people met along the author’s research during her four separate trips to Alaska. The research was vast and a list of books, pamphlets, and others is given at the end of the novel. The story takes place during the turn of the nineteenth century to the twentieth century and therewith care had to be taken that no modern innovations or

The first comprehensive examination of Alaskan development schemes from 1890 to the present. Focuses on five major conflicts between environmentalists and developers, from reindeer herding to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Takes readers behind common and simplistic representations of the state to explore the rich history and extreme diversity of a land that cannot easily be pigeonholed into typical American conceptions about place.

The rich tapestry of Alaska is threaded together by 365,000 miles of waterways, from cascading mountain streams to meandering valley rivers, from the meltwaters of glaciers to broad rivers that empty into the sea. This guide profiles a wide variety of rivers from all over Alaska, concentrating on trips for intermediate boaters, and including a few major expeditions for the experienced river-runner. A section on gear outlines what to take into the backcountry.

This collection of Alaskan adventures begins with a newspaper article written by John Muir during his first visit to Alaska in 1879, when the sole U.S. government representative in all the territory's 586,412 square miles was a lone customs official in Sitka. It closes with accounts of the gold rush and the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle. Jean Meaux has gathered a superb collection of articles and stories that captivated American readers when they were first published and that will continue to entertain us today. The authors range from Charles Hallock (the founder of Forest and Stream, a precursor of Field and Stream) to New York society woman Mary Hitchcock, who traveled with china, silver, and a 2,800 square foot tent. After explorer Henry Allen wore out his boots, he marched barefoot as he continued mapping the Tanana River, and Episcopal Archdeacon Hudson Stuck mushed by dog sled in Arctic winters across a territory encompassing 250,000 miles of the northern interior. Although the United States acquired Alaska in 1867, it took more than a decade for American writers and explorers to focus attention on a territory so removed from their ordinary lives. These writers-adventurers, tourists, and gold seekers-would help define the nation's perception of Alaska and would contribute to an image of the state that persists today. This collection unearths early writings that offer a broad view of American encounters with Alaska accompanied by Meaux's lively and concise introductions. The present-day adventurer will find much to inspire exploration, while students of the American West can gain new access to this valuable trove of pre-Gold Rush Alaska archives. For more information go to: http://www.inpursuitofalaska.com

This new volume illustrates how one of the most rapidly evolving industries in the world—travel and tourism—has transcended its immediate economic concerns and has become a major signifier for cultural patterns and cross-cultural communications. It discusses how the function of language has become the subject of scrutiny in the context of intellectual deliberation vis-à-vis travel and tourism. Drawing on discourse analytics and ethnographic approaches, this volume brings together perspectives from the lived experiences of residents, hosts, and ethnographers to explore the extent to which linguistic and cultural differences are identified, constructed, negotiated, and maintained in tourism encounters.

The 28 stories in this compilation take the reader on delightful armchair adventures to points known and unknown, from recreating Muhammad Ali's "Rumble in the Jungle" in a makeshift boxing ring in Malawi, to discovering the secret to life and chicken in a humble Parisian restaurant, to encountering the ghost of Odysseus and the mysteries of one's own past in the Aegean. Featuring points of view and perspectives as global as the tales themselves, the stories present an equally eclectic collection of themes, encompassing spiritual growth, misadventure, high adventure, romance, women's solo journeys, stories of service to humanity, family travel, and encounters with exotic cuisine. The common thread connecting them all is fresh, lively storytelling that make readers laugh, cry, wish they were there, or be glad they weren't.

With stories ranging from delightful to funny to cautionary and inspiring, these tales about Brazil explore the many facets of the country--from the biggest freshwater fish and the rivers they live in to the world's largest jungle. Illustrations & maps.