Alaska – Bickerstaff Booksellers

Waxing and Care of Skis and Snowboards

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:22 +0000

Step-by-step instructions and photos show how to wax, clean, and repair equipment.

Through the Eye of the Glacier

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:22 +0000

One thousand B.C. In the receding ice age of the vast Tanana River Valley of interior Alaska, mammoth hunters encounter a mysterious and beautiful treasure. Rediscovered deep within a glacier during the heyday of Trans-Alaska Pipeline construction, two Athabaskan students from the University of Alaska share an adventure of scientific and cultural discovery in the midst of stunning, ethereal beauty of Alaska. This is a story of music, brilliant auroras, and luminescent moonlight on crisp Alaska snowfields. It is a tale of hope and shared dreams that will be told around the campfires of a thousand worlds.

The Great Alaska Pipeline

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:21 +0000

The early history of Alaska was shaped by the exploitation of the territory’s vast natural resources, mainly gold. But it was the discovery of commercial oil deposits, first in the Kenai-Cook Inlet area and later on the Arctic slope, that dramatically upped the stakes and changed the character of the State forever. The Trans Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act of 1973 was signed into law by President Nixon on November 16, 1973. Construction could now begin on one of the largest human endeavors ever attempted.

The Grizzlies of Mount McKinley

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:21 +0000

Wild grizzly bears, conducting their affairs undisturbed, are the essence of the wilderness spirit. Much has been written, both fact and fiction, about these awesome animals, but until very recently we have known little about the details of their daily existence. For twenty-five years, Adolph Murie, one of North America’s greatest naturalists, spent his summers in Mount McKinley National Park (since renamed Denali National Park) tracking, recording, and interpreting the lives of these magnificent animals in one of their few remaining strongholds. Murie observed the grizzlies as they moved throughout their range. He noted how families were formed, how they found food, and he described in detail how they related to other animals with whom they came in contact, including man. Often he followed a bear family for days as it traveled through the park. Even though their behavior could be quite unpredictable, Murie was able to distinguish, through careful observation, the individuals who made up many distinct families.

The Wolves of Mount McKinley

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:21 +0000

In the time of Lewis and Clark, wolves were abundant throughout North America from the Arctic regions to Mexico. But man declared war on this cunning and powerful animal when cattle replaced the buffalo on the western plains, reducing the wolf’s range to those few areas in the Far North where economic necessity did not call for its extinction. Between 1939 and 1941, Adolph Murie, one of North America’s greatest naturalists, made a field study of the relationship between wolves and Dall sheep in Mount McKinley National Park (since renamed Denali National Park) which has come to be respected as a classic work of natural history. In this study Murie not only described the life cycle of Alaskan wolves in greater detail than has ever been done, but he discovered a great deal about the entire ecological network of predator and prey. The issues surrounding the survival of the wolf and its prey are more important today than ever, and Murie helps us understand the careful balance that must be maintained to ensure that these magnificent animals prosper. Originally available only in government publications which are long out-of-print, this account of a much-maligned animal is now available in its first popular edition.

Native Cultures in Alaska

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:20 +0000

Alaska Geographic is an award-winning series that presents the people, places, and wonders of Alaska to the world. Over the past 30 years, Alaska Geographic has earned its reputation as the publication for those who love Alaska. The series boasts more than 100 books to date, featuring communities from Barrow to Ketchikan, animals from bears to dinosaurs, history from the Russian explorers to today, and natural phenomena from the aurora to glaciers. Written by leading experts in their fields, these books are illustrated throughout with world-class photography and include colorful maps for reference.

North Slope Now

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:20 +0000

The Presence of Whales

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:19 +0000

Frank Stewart, an observer, writer, storyteller, and lover of whales gathers the most compelling contemporary essays on cetaceans in the first anthology to bring together many of the foremost marine scientists and nature writers, including Diane Ackerman, Barry Lopez, Farley Mowat, Faith McNulty, and Jonathan White. The essays are organized in five sections that celebrates our ongoing fascination with these fragile giants. Sharing the World of Giants contains essays inspired by being in the presence of whales, Songs from the Deep concentrates on whale vocalizations, Sightings of the Leviathan are compelling accounts of personal observations of whale behavior, Death at Sea and On Shore touch on the mystery of whale groundings and other violent encounters, and A Splendid but Uncertain Company explores the privilege humans sense when near whales and the compact human contact has had on these glorious but gentle beasts.

Alaska’s Oil/Gas & Minerals Industry

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:19 +0000

Raising Ourselves

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:18 +0000

Born in 1960, the sixth of thirteen children, Velma Wallis comes of age in a two-room log cabin in remote Fort Yukon, Alaska. Life is defined by the business of living off the land. Chopping wood. Hauling water from the river. Hunting moose. Catching salmon. Trapping fur. Taking care of the dogs. For a thousand years, the Gwich’in clan had followed migratory animals across the north. But two generations before, the people had settled where the Porcupine River flows into the Yukon. Now, the Wallis family has a post office box and an account at the general store, and Velma listens to Wolf Man Jack on armed forces radio. The author discovers that her people have surrendered their language, traditional values, and religion to white teachers, traders, and missionaries. Flu epidemics have claimed many loved ones. Village elders seem like strangers from another land, and in a way they are. There is much drinking when the monthly government checks come, and that is when the pain comes out of hiding. RAISING OURSELVES is a gritty, sobering, yet irresistible story filled with laughter even as generations of Gwich’in grief seeps from past to present. But hope pushes back hopelessness, and a new strength and wisdom emerge.