Synopses & Reviews
Too often the history of a place is reduced to a list of dates and a handful of major events, ignoring the daily stories that help shape its legacy. In
The Long View, Ross Coen stops to explore the smaller yet extremely meaningful moments in Alaska’s past, and in doing so he builds a history unlike any before.
This collection of Coen’s columns from the celebrated Ester Republic allows readers to see how short snapshots of everyday life can come together to create a true picture of the unique experience of living in Alaska. Covering everything from mail order brides to failed rocket launches and true political intrigue, Coen’s engaging writing makes the history of Alaska accessible and entertaining.
About the Author
Ross Coen works at the Alaska Center for Energy and Power at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he oversees a program of rural energy development jointly sponsored by the Tanana Chiefs Conference. He also teaches at the university and has published numerous articles on Alaska and arctic history in the Northern Review, Alaska Magazine, Alaska History, and other publications.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Mike Hawfield
Preface
1. Boosting Hot Air Again, or Floating Some Old Ideas
2. Big Domes
3. Minority Lawmakers Past and Present
4. Gubernatorial Operations
5. On the Inclusion or Exclusion of Rights
6. Corruption, Alaska-style
7. Marathon Fever
8. An Apologetic Don
9. No Blushing Here
10. Mail-Order Matrimony
11. Some Old Young History
12. Cleary Summit Burning
13. The State of Oil
14. The Austrian Skier, the German Archaeologist, and the Country That Sees Subversives Everywhere
15. The Opposition Position
16. Wont Get Fooled Again!
17. Big State, Small Screen
18. A Century of Political Melodrama
19. Remembering a Giant
20. Fifty Years of Statehood: The Historical Parade
21. TV Is Here!
22. Alaska Or Bust!
23. A Screaming Comes Across the Sky
24. Books, Tobacco, and Civilization
25. Its Fair Time!
26. From Their Cold Dead Hands
27. Seward In Alaska
28. The Line In the Snow
29. The Alaskan City
30. Monumental Alaska
31. Lets Pay As Little As Possible
32. The Myth of Alaskan Exceptionalism
33. The Right to Ride
34. A Day for the Earth
35. Counting Alaska
36. Severe Days on the Copper and the Tanana
37. The Governor, His Deputy, and a Sweetheart Deal Gone Sour
38. One Person, One Vote
39. From the Desk of Joe Vogler
40. Renaming Alaska
41. Hoist a Glass!
42. Two Historic Days for Alaska—One Private, One Public
Acknowledgments