Synopses & Reviews
When construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline created an oil boom in the late 1970s, journalist Joe McGinniss headed north to find out what if anything was left of the "last frontier." He discovered, as one reader put it, "mind-bending contradictions" - greed, waste, addictions, and racism, all of which contrasted with the vast, untamed natural beauty and the honest, open, and independent spirit of the people.
McGinniss looked at the underbelly of Alaska's boom culture. He tells a sometimes shocking, often moving story of turmoil through the perspectives of a lively assortment of bush pilots, boomers, park rangers, bartendesr, teachers, journalists, waitresses, politicians, Alaskan Natives, and an advancing legion of outsiders looking to get rich quick. Going to Extremes is an entertaining yet historically important book that stands as a journalistic time capsule from a time three decades ago when overwhelming changes were sweeping over Alaska.
Review
"Joe McGinnis did not set out to judge or explain, but only to find out what Alaska is. He has succeeded." --New York Times
Review
"Wonderfully ironic and perceptive!" --San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"Rewarding, impressive...first-person reporting at its finest." --Christian Science Monitor
Review
"Powerful...poignant...hilarious" - Newsweek
Review
"Funny, thought provoking, and relevant" - Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Review
"Terrifying and splendid" - Boston Globe
Synopsis
This is the fourth edition of a work that always has been controversial in Alaska. Yet, it is an important and highly readable classic work that captures a portrait frozen in time of a raw state in turmoil during the oil boom. McGinnis went north to find out if there was anything left of the "last frontier." He found "mind-bending contradictions," as a previous publisher put it--greed, waste, addictions, and racism, among other things, that contrasted with an awesome untamed natural beauty and an honest, open, and independent spirit of the people.
About the Author
Joe McGinniss started his career in journalism at the Worcester Telegram, Philadelphia Inquirer, and LA Herald-Examiner before becoming an overnight success with his first book, The Selling of the President which landed him on the NY Times bestseller list at age 26. He went on to write 10 more books, several of them bestsellers, and he currently is working on a book tentatively titled Sarah Palin's Year of Living Dangerously to be published in 2011 by Broadway/Random House. He has five children and, at last count, seven grandchildren. McGinniss lives in Massachusetts with his partner, the writer and editor Nancy Doherty.