RaveAnchorage Daily NewsNot a history in the formal sense, and Engelhard makes little to no effort at offering such a narrative. A writer who is at his best when using the essay as his form, he sets a general theme with each chapter, and then lets his account follow his mind wherever it goes ... Through a cascading series of memorable sentences, he takes us on a spiraling tour of all that follows ... Engelhard is a wordsmith with few equals among Alaska’s many talented writers. Were it not for copyright considerations and lack of space, I’d simply submit the entire introduction for a review and leave it at that ... Anecdotally-detailed is a good way to describe the earliest pages of this book, which fly by in an almost Kerouacian manner. Engelhard alights here, there, and elsewhere, his approach a bit dizzying. But the effect is to highlight how complex this seemingly simple place is.
