Percival’s Picks – Bickerstaff Booksellers

Iditarod Dreams

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:17 +0000

DeeDee Jonrowe loves dogs, and her consuming passion is the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Winter and summer, virtually day and night (even in her dreams!), she and her huskies prepare for the annual race across Alaska. IDITAROD DREAMS is an absorbing, personal account of a year in the life of this remarkable woman living on the edge of the wilderness with her husband, Mike, and enough howling huskies to populate a small town. It is about the special bond between a woman and her dogs and about the astonishing measure of skill and stamina required to compete in the Iditarod. DeeDee Jonrowe talks about… Care of Dogs: “I’m sure the average Iditarod dog gets better care than 99 percent of the dogs in America.” Bad Weather: “I was stuck beside the trail for 36 hours in a blizzard with no visibility and a windchill factor of 50 below. My feet were cold, but I was more worried about the dogs.” Success: “Racing sled dogs is a selfish occupation. Yet, part of winning is having your life in balance, giving something of your success to other people.”

Islands at the Edge of Time

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:17 +0000

Islands at the Edge of Time is the story of one man’s captivating journey along America’s barrier islands from Boca Chica, Texas, to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Weaving in and out along the coastlines of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, and North Carolina, poet and naturalist Gunnar Hansen perceives barrier islands not as sand but as expressions in time of the processes that make them. Along the way he treats the reader to absorbing accounts of those who call these islands home — their lives often lived in isolation and at the extreme edges of existence — and examines how the culture and history of these people are shaped by the physical character of their surroundings.

Iditarod Country

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:16 +0000

The welcome mat is out when the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race crosses Alaska. Here are the places and people along the trail, a land of cold noses and warm hearts.

Arctic Obsession

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:16 +0000

The epic history of the explorers and adventurers who risked — and sometimes lost — their lives in the quest to conquer and claim the Arctic. Ever since approximately 325 BC, the Arctic has been the backdrop for tales of triumph and disaster, of hardship and horrors endured by those who were drawn to the northern latitudes. For centuries the major world powers sponsored teams of explorers seeking trade routes as well as the chance to claim new territories. These commercial interests brought them into contact with natives, who at first saw white crews die in the forbidding landscape they called home only to later succumb to disease, alcohol, and the drastic environmental changes wrought by global trade. At a time when global warming is drastically altering the region, Arctic Obsession chronicles an age when the Arctic remained one of the last unconquered places on Earth.

A Place Beyond

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:15 +0000

This powerful book blends the rhythms of daily arctic life with high adventure. “Jans’s writing is a pleasure,” said the “Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.”

Alaska’s First Homegrown Millionaire

Kim — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:06:15 +0000

Alaska’s First Homegrown Millionaire is the Life and Times of Cap Lathrop. During half a century in Alaska Cap Lathrop tried, and usually succeeded, in a variety of enterprises helping to assure Alaska’s readiness to become a full-fledged member of the United States. He captained a steam schooner; drilled for oil; hauled freight; built apartments and theaters; started banks and radio stations; published a newspaper; served as a city mayor, a state legislator, a university regent, and Republican national committeeman; established a model salmon cannery; developed Alaska’s most successful coal mine; and produced a motion picture. So diverse were his activities that each half decade of his long life provides a new story in Alaska’s development. His gruff manner scared some people while his warmth charmed many. His final wish, “to die with his boots on,” was fulfilled when he died in a Healy River coal mine accident. Cap left assets worth millions, but his personal belongings would scarcely fill a flight bag.