The Last New Land: Stories of Alaska Past and Present

by Wayne Mergler (Editor), John Haines (Foreword)

An anthology of Alaskan writing features Native Alaskan legends and tales and the works of authors from Robert W. Service and Jack London to contemporary writers

Genres: Anthologies

816 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1996

Reviews

[Carol Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating sampler of writing about Alaska. There are stories of Native legends, like "How Mosquitos Came to Be.," narratives of white people who grew up in Alaska like naturalist Margaret Murie, stories of people battling the elements, and stories of people relishing even the harsh winters. There are stories by famous writers like jack London and John Muir, and excerpts from novels little known outside of Alaska, like the story of a teacher in a small town who fights for the right of Native children to attend her classes. There is the story of the first men to climb Mount Denali, middle-aged miners with no fancy equipment. There is the story of a Native carver, and the story of boy whose teacher inspires him to learn his heritage by making a war canoe.
The book is full of stories of this land of great beauty and great hardship and the wide range of people who came to live there, and most of them to love it. The Last New Land should inspire anyone who has an interest in Alaska. I had difficulty reading the stories about hunting, though I know it was essential to survival.

[D]

I don't know about everyone else, but I didn't read every single story poem. Probably most of the non-fiction, not much of the ancient native tales, some of the fiction and none of the poems. Since I cherry picked, I won't give it a rating, since it'd be skewed, but for what I did read, I'd give it 3.5 stars. Didn't quite live up to my expectations, but there were some great entries in there and all quite varied. The book is divided into 7 sections: Ancient stories (creation myths, etc); first arrivals into Alaska; stories of sea, land, and air; hunting; survival; animal stories; and present day alaska. I would've wished for a bit more of the last section, personally. Overall though, most people will probably be happy with the book, I'm just saying don't let the size intimidate you, since none of the entries are more than 20 pages, and most considerably less, so it's easy to break it up and pick and choose.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up at the local library in Haines while visiting this week. A solid collection of short stories and excerpts about Alaska - to gain some history, get into the romantic spirit of the land, and also to think through the tensions between that ideal and the reality.

[Matt Crockett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of stories by Alaskan authors or stories written about Alaska.