Denali: A Literary Anthology

  • 272 pages
  • Mountaineers Books
  • 978-0-89886-710-7
  • Sep 30, 2000

Paperback / softback
$18.95
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Description

* Collects 23 essays on Denali from well-known writings to undiscovered gems
* Explores themes from Native culture to exploration history to modern adventures
* Includes stories from such writers as Charles Sheldon, Robert Dunn, Kim Heacox, Richard Leo, and Sherry Simpson

Denali, The High One (Alaska's Mount McKinley), has beguiled storytellers since time immemorial. In this wide-ranging anthology spanning 101 years of published writings -- representing both the northern classics and little-known gems -- editor Bill Sherwonit gives us a taste of a rich literary legacy.

Explorers, mountaineers, naturalists, Native Alaskans, adventurers, and homesteaders, the storytellers of Denali powerfully portray the wild spirit of The Mountain. They tell us of the landscape's dangers, its obstacles and abundant wildlife; and they share its allures, whether gold or high mountain summits, snow-white sheep or wilderness solitude. In reading these stories, we also learn about the men and women who are drawn to this special place, who find hope, challenge, inspiration -- and sometimes sorrow -- in Denali and the broad shadow it casts.

Denali: A Literary Anthology includes:

* A chapter from Adolph Murie's A Naturalist in Alaska
* Excerpts from Art Davidson's Minus 148
* William Dickey's 1897 newspaper article Discoveries in Alaska
* The life of modern-day trapline twins Miki and Julie Collins
* Landmark wolf studies led by L. David Mech
* And much more!

Contributors

Details
  • 272 pages
  • Mountaineers Books
  • 978-0-89886-710-7
  • Sep 30, 2000
Reviews
  • "Sherwonit has divided his 272 pages into those five subject areas [native history, early explorations, mountaineering, natural history, and modern adventure], a format that delivers both historical perspective, cultural development and spine-tingling adventure. This is an intriguing collection of descriptions for anyone who has wondered what it would be like to slog up North America's highest peak in the dead of winter…Well written book with contributions by a host of good writers who bare the soul and share the adventure of this unique region. I enjoyed it, found it absorbing in fact, surprisingly informative and educational and I'm glad Sherwonit saved the adventure stories for last. The first parts gave me the perspective to appreciate the last part."
    — TNS Communications, Reel Books in Review
  • It is difficult to read Bill Sherwonit's book without a sense of movement and progression through time and through landscape and progression from distant considerations of the great mountain to the closest encounters possible.
    — Anchorage Daily News
  • What is striking about this book is its reminder that Denali is not just about mountain climbing. It shows how the great mountain is a way of life; a final frontier in the western horizon, a rugged treasure waiting to be discovered.
    — The Oregonian
  • A fitting tribute to one of the most remarkable places on earth... Belongs in any library, public or private, that aspires to be complete on the subject of Alaska in general and Denali in particular.
    — The Bloomsbury Review

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