Looking for Alaska /

Jenkins and his wife decamped to Seward, Alaska, in 1999 to collect material in the travelogue mode. His plan was to stay one year, through a winter, and to make forays from Seward to meet the state's individualistic denizens. Jenkins' forte of forging friendships with strangers, the backbone of his mega-selling A Walk across America (1979), is much in evidence here, providing fascinating profiles of typical Alaskan types: the commercial fisherman, the fish-and-game biologist, the homesteader, the musher, the native whaler. What first struck Jenkins was Alaska's wildness; even a relatively settled locale like Seward has bears and moose tramping through town, incidents that fill the police blotter Jenkins loves to relate. Striking out from home, Jenkins traveled on Alaska's characteristic conveyances: a floatplane, a kayak, several types of fishing boats, and a dogsled. His tutor in the latter generates the best passages in the book, as Jeff King, a top finisher in Alaska's Iditarod, schools the author on raising and mushing race dogs. Jenkins' skill in learning from unconventional outdoorsmen such as King, and in expressing the lure of Alaska, will attract armchair adventurers from the Lower 48. --Gilbert Taylor

The footloose Jenkins (A Walk Across America; The Walk West; etc.) hits the road again if not actually the blacktop. Jenkins's 18-month sojourn in Alaska involves more unconventional modes of travel: a nervy float-plane trip through the fog with a passenger who knows the route better than the pilot, for instance, or a wild ride across a frozen river on a sled attached to 13 surging huskies. For all its moments of adventure, though, this book feels more deliberate than Jenkins's earlier journeys. The people he meets seem to have been selected in advance by a booking agent. But that doesn't take away from their stories or from Jenkins's ability to draw them out. He is no poet, but maybe that's why he fits so easily into the company of a people with a natural distrust of outsiders, and why he can bond with a fisherman who "would feel much more at home at the dinner-table with ex-football coaches John Madden and Mike Ditka." Even if Jenkins comes across as more settled and his need for self-discovery a quest that added a spark to his previous works has lessened, the author's ability to inspire confidence in others is a quality that hasn't changed. Nor has his courage to even undertake such a trek. And whether it's the crepuscular sunlight ricocheting off a glacier, a massive brown bear rooting through his garbage or a grizzled mountain man named Wild Gene, Jenkins convinces readers that there is much to look at and to look for in Alaska. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Most of us who "look for" Alaska do so as tourists; we see the incredible rugged beauty of the Inside Passage and gaze with wonder at the glaciers, mountains, waterfalls, and other sights located in areas devoid of any sign of human habitation. Many residents, on the other hand, see a very different place; they face a daily challenge to survive in an unforgiving land. Then there are those like Jenkins-neither resident nor tourist-who are determined to go beyond the visible and look for the spirit. During his 18-month journey throughout Alaska, the author of the best-selling A Walk Across America found what he was looking for. He shares that experience in a narrative that sparkles with adventure, quirky characters, unbelievable hardships, and indescribable beauty. Not intended for the casual tourist, this book is for those who seek to understand the heart and soul of America's most distinctive state. For all public libraries.-Joseph L. Carlson, Lompoc P.L., CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Veteran travel-writer Jenkins (Along the Edge of America, 1995, etc.) looks for Alaska and finds an idealized America: sparsely populated with hardy individualists in majestic scenery. For more than a year, the author and family members lived in the northernmost state during all seasons, balmy or frigid, through sunshine or blizzard. Based in Seward, eager as an Iditarod dog, he journeyed through tundra, bush, and mountain, north and south of the Arctic Circle from Cordova to Tok, Kotzebue to Unalakleet. The vistas he saw are picturesque and, reminiscent of TV's Northern Exposure, the people distinctive. If Jenkins ever met any men or women he didn't like, they weren't in Alaska (except, perhaps, for a passing census worker). He found flannel-shirted Alaskans, whether immigrant or native-wanderers, teachers, hunters, fishermen, pilots, civil servants, Haida or Tlinglit-to be stalwart, generous, and noble. A typical nice guy, for example, was "sort of godlike." And that's just the people. Domestic animals and the author took a liking to each other, too. The whales, moose, and brown bears offered no opinion, though from his side Jenkins expresses a healthy respect for the magnificence of wildlife. On an Alaskan high, he is unmatched by Jack London or Robert W. Service, and the result is as persuasive as an avalanche. The writing, including some nice contributions by a 20-year-old daughter, is effective in spite of some incorrect personal pronouns and a disconcerting habit of omitting the requisite preposition after "couple"-it's "a couple snow machines" or "a couple dogs" throughout). The tome, big like the state, will be a revelation to many, including the author's neighbors back in Tennessee. A bracing, happy view of Alaska and Alaskans prior to a couple little changes like new oil drilling and Star Wars outposts. A very appealing tour for stay-at-home outdoorspeople. (16-page color insert, not seen) First printing of 200,000; author tour