MeatEater's American History: The Alaskans

by Steven Rinella (Author & Narrator)

From the creators of the New York Times bestselling audio series Campfire Stories and MeatEater’s American History comes a new audiobook original that plunges listeners into the frozen vastness of the Last Frontier, where a diehard breed of hunters and trappers carved out a living from the Alaskan wilderness in the early decades of the twentieth century.

Steven Rinella (The MeatEater Podcast) tells the story of these remarkable frontiersmen. Lured north by the promise of the Klondike Gold Rush, this generation of hunters and trappers stayed put long after their dreams of striking it rich had faded away. Instead, they vanished into the wilderness and took up the rawboned and dangerous occupation of hunting and trapping for a living—shooting caribou to feed themselves, fishing salmon to feed their dogs, and trapping just enough wolf and lynx pelts to sustain their wilderness lifestyle.

Known to some as "sourdoughs," they traveled by dogsled, snowshoes, and homemade river boats, running their traplines in temperatures that routinely dropped to sixty below zero through a landscape where many streams and mountains remain unnamed today. Unlike the generations of rapacious market hunters who came before them, these solitary woodsmen weren't responsible for pushing wildlife resources toward ecological collapse; instead, they dreamed of creating a sustainable existence where they could live for decades in harmony with the wilderness. Their feats of grit, self-reliance, and bushcraft defined a golden era along the distant edges of the American map—an era that, in many respects, lives on today in America's last pure wilderness

Audible Audio

Published October 20, 2026

About the author

Steven Rinella is the host of the Netflix Original series MeatEater and The MeatEater Podcast. He's also the author of six books dealing with wildlife, hunting, fishing and wild game cooking, including the bestselling MeatEater Fish and Game Cookbook: Recipes and Techniques for Every Hunter and Angler.

Reviews

[BethFishReads · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

A short history of what it was/is like to live in the Alaskan wilderness as a trapper.

Although I'm new to Steven Rinella, he has been around for a while. He has hosted television series and a podcast and has written for a number of sporting and outdoor publications., Rinella has also written several books, including three previous American histories.

This short history is about the men (and women and families) known as "Sourdoughs," who braved the Alaskan wilderness and winters to make a living as trappers. The book is jam-packed with interesting stories, useful information, and surprising trivia. Rather than providing a strict chronological account, Rinella focuses on different aspects the trapping life and introduces us to some of the people who tried their luck living mostly on their own.

We learn what drew such people to Alaska, the dependence on river transportation (did you know the first bridge over the Yukon River was erected as late as the 1970s?), the importance of having a reliable trapping partner, and the rules of etiquette in the trapping community. We get a glimpse of how the outside world (world wars, compulsory education, airplanes) affected the trapper's lifestyle and relationship to the land. We also learn about the bitter cold, the masses of mosquitos, and the constant danger.

The Alaskans is interesting on so many levels. It is a piece of American history, but it's also a tribute to rugged individuals and to one of the last remaining true wildernesses in the country.

The audiobook is performed by the author. While Rinella is clearly comfortable behind the mic, he's not a professional voice actor. Still, his expressive delivery held my interest and kept me engaged. Note that I plan to listen to his other MeatEater's American History audiobooks.

Thanks to PRH Audio for the review copy.

[Dillon Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really really enjoyed this book. Makes me want to move to Alaska.

[Pete Franklin · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

I love Arctic history and thought this would be a fun next. Lots of detail around the conditions of living which is interesting but it’s all either in imperial measurements or arbitrary reference says saying it was as long as this river or as far as between this American city and this American city which was lost on me and had to frequently use google earth the whole time.
Title should really be American history for Americans. It wasn’t bad but felt like a book of vignette stitched together in theme I think it would have benefited from a chapter following one trapper fully to orient the readers

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great!

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished this fast, not normally a nonfiction guy but I’m a sucker for Steve. This read made me want a fur jacket so so bad.

[John_Reads_Classics · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again an awesome volume from Steven in this collection, I really hope there's more.