Alaska by James A. Michener

JAME MICHENER'S RICHEST, most panoramic novel yet traces the development of Alaska from earliest times. It is an awesome story, opening with an account of pre-history, moving through several million years of geological and climatological change, the coming of the mammoth and the mastodon, the arrival of the earliest hunters, and the battle to adapt to this harsh and chilling land. Alaska is the 'ice palace', where the last Ice Age ended only 14,000 years ago.
   Out of the story of this vast, almost unknown subcontinent, James Michener has drawn a thrilling book. ALASKA is the story of man against the elements, struggling to survive, growing with the land, shaping it, spoiling it, and above all falling under its spell. It is the tale of explorers, Russian and American, struggling through this ice-bound world, contesting the colonisation of an increasingly precious territory, exploiting its valuable resources For Alaska has always been rich, in fur from the otter and seal, in oil and ambergris from the whale, and above all in the gold of the fabled Klondike, when Alaska became the centre of the world for thousands of speculators. All this and much more is brilliantly captured in a rich and absorbing narrative.