Rating: 
Summary: Michener's finest
Review: I've read nearly all the Michener books, and I must say, this is by far the best.
Rating:
Summary: A fun trip through the development of our 49th state
Review: In Michener fashion you are taken back as far as possible to build a foundation, and carried through generations of hardship, challenge, and joy. Although this novel is indeed voluminous, it keeps you interested throughout. Enjoy the journey from Wooly Mammoths, Vitus Bering's travels, Purchase from Russia, Gold Rushes, Statehood, and ultimately increased civilization and industrialization. Have fun while you learn.
Rating:
Summary: If you read this book, you will strike it rich!
Review: James Michener has a style of writing that is superior, but takes some time to get use to. He brings you inside of the characters and you become completely absorbed by the story. I hate to put the book down. You have to stay with the story in the beginning because you will be rewarded in the end. I love the parts where he gives you insights into what the animals are thinking. You see Alaska from all possible angles. He is honest and I love the way he brings the whole history of Alaska together into one book. Do not be intimidated by the size of a book, remember, never judge a book by its cover! This is an excellent read!
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely fantastic
Review: James Michener is a true master. I recommend Alaska to every human being on this earth.
Rating: 
Summary: Better Than This
Review: James Michener, the master of the historical saga, tells the history of Alaska in, what else, "Alaska".Michener's stories are primarily about places, not people. They only contain characters in so far as they are needed to describe the place. Because of this, Michener's characters are fundamentally flawed. In most of his stories though, Michener makes up for this lack of well-developed characters with an amazing description and development of place. This is apparent in his novel "Chesapeake". "Chesapeake" is a fine example of Michener's ability to vividly recreate the picture of a place and its history within your mind. "Alaska" fails to do this. It's not a drastic failure to the point that the story is ruined; but, it hurts it enough to keep it below the level of "Chesapeake". Michener is a quality author whose abilities are above what he has done with "Alaska".
Rating:
Summary: The Whole Alaska
Review: Like his fantastic Chesapeake, Michener again produces a sweeping epic full of myths and legends, facts and fiction, all blended seamlessly to fully entrench his reader in the mystique and allure of one of America's great wildernesses. It's educational, it's funny, it's heartwrenching, it's all too real. Mainly trailing the exploits and adventures of specific families through various generations, we are able to follow the progression of this oft' overlooked and misunderstood chunk of the world from drifting tectonic plate to eventual statehood and beyond. The characters are warm, but the landscape can be cold and threatening. A delight from cover to cover. My only wish is that there had been more adventures on the sea included as I thrilled along with in Chesapeake. Regardless, a smashing tale. Excellent bedtime, vacation time, or stay-at-home sick reading. Thoroughly engrossing. Makes you want to go there yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Never Thought Alaska Could be So Interesting!
Review: Michener has a unique ability for making history come to life in the most interesting of fashions. This book is no exception. I started this book feeling like I knew very little about Alaska and its value. By the time I finished I felt I like an expert on the history and the imense value of "Seward's Folly." The characters come to life in memorable fashion. One character that I am puzzled by is Captain Michael Healy. For about 40 years he was the law in Alaska, battling pirates, rescuing lost seamen, importing reindeer from Siberia to ease starvation in Alaska. The reason I am puzzled is that Healy is one of the greatest Black Americans, with a "folklore" level history and virtually nobody has heard of him.
Rating:
Summary: Never Thought Alaska Could be So Interesting!
Review: Michener has a unique ability for making history come to life in the most interesting of fashions. This book is no exception. I started this book feeling like I knew very little about Alaska and its value. By the time I finished I felt I like an expert on the history and the imense value of "Seward's Folly." The characters come to life in memorable fashion. One character that I am puzzled by is Captain Michael Healy. For about 40 years he was the law in Alaska, battling pirates, rescuing lost seamen, importing reindeer from Siberia to ease starvation in Alaska. The reason I am puzzled is that Healy is one of the greatest Black Americans, with a "folklore" level history and virtually nobody has heard of him.
Rating:
Summary: fine historical fiction
Review: Mr. Michener is known for his lengthy descriptions, but if you stick with it, you will be rewarded with a great deal of historical knowledge about Alaska. I have also read "Journey" so I know more about Alaska than perhaps I ever cared to know. Michener really brings his writing talents to the table in the final chapter about modern Alaska. The basic issue in the final chapter is the conflict between modern culture and traditional culture. Kendra, a teacher of Eskimos from Utah, ends up having to make a marriage choice between an idealistic lawyer who supports Alaska's traditional or subsistence cultures, Jeb Keeler, and the grandson of a Seattle business executive who works as a scientific worker on an iceberg and ran
in the
Iditarod dogsled race, Rick Venn. Perhaps surprisingly, she chooses Venn, mostly because of his noble behavior in the dogsled race, when he sacrifices his chance to win to aid a fallen comrade.
The third main character in the final chapter is Poley Markham, also a lawyer from Phoenix, who attempts to take advantage of the numerous legal problems that arise in connexion with the Alaska Native Settlements Act,making himself instantly wealthy. He is on the side of modernism,unlike Jeb, and with his rather macho personality has a strong side- interest in hunting which he shares with Jeb, and which is the final chapter's main subplot(hunting the"The Alaskan Big Eight"). There are others --the scientific expert on tsunamis is an important one. The ethical questions Kendra must face in connection with her Eskimo students are touching and are well developed. Michener occasionally uses tragedy if it serves his purposes, as it does here. A suicide and an unexpected death are symptoms revealing many of the problems of traditional cultures.
We are also repeatedly told how and why everything is more expensive in Alaska, due to the Jones Act of 1920. The lawyer Jeb Wheeler is finally killed by a tsunami in the climax of the book, perhaps also revealing Michener's views of liberal lawyers.
All chapters are similarly developed so that by the end one gets a real feeling for Alaska's traditional cultures, and a lot
more too. On the scientific side, we get geology, anthropology, oceanography, biology, including getting inside the minds of mammoths and salmon. We are introduced to a great deal of Russian colonial history in the early chapters as it relates to Alaska;to a great deal of seafaring lore including the hunt for sea otter and seal pelts, and to the destruction of the Eskimo's way of life by alcoholism , courtesy of an unscrupulous sea captain. We go on several whale hunts and are given details about them and the harpoons. By the time the Americans enter the picture, we are ready for the poor management; all the swindlers connected with the Gold Rush, which gets a thorough treatment, focusing on the Klondike and on Nome. Michener carries the characters from this period, and their progeny, through to the end of the book. There is then a long chapter on the salmon industry which tells us how the industry unscrupulously took advantage of the Jones Act of 1920, which puts all economic power in the hands of Seattle businessmen at the expense of native Alaskans. We are introduced to Sam Bigears of the Tlingit tribe, his daughter Nancy, and to Ah Ting, the Chinese worker who can repair machines but who is ultimately replaced by machines. In the next-to-last chapter we learn of the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian islands during World War II and the building of the Alcan Highway, as well as to the adventures of Leroy Flatch, the "bush pilot". There are numerous other sub-plots, and we also get a real feel both for Alaska's oceans, glaciers, icebergs, mountains, vocanoes, and earthquakes.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: One of his best, if not the best. Great characters, ideas and places that will make your mind soar. Loved it.
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