Crosscurrents North: Alaskans on the Environment

by Marybeth Holleman (Editor), Anne Coray (Editor)

The essays and poems collected in Crosscurrents North offer thoughtful meditations on the Alaska environment and the relationship between humans and nature. By distinguished writers such as John Haines, Nick Jans, Marjorie Kowalski Cole, Sherry Simpson, and Bill Sherwonit, these sixty-one compelling pieces celebrate the wildness and wonder of nature as well as the human impact on it. The writers tackle weighty topics such as the changing Alaska landscape and the impact of humans on its wild inhabitants, the effects of climate change, and the environmental side effects of architectural development, as well as tranquil meditations on the iconic bear and wolf or the plant world of berries, moss, and mushrooms. Jay Hammond, the former governor of Alaska, also contributes a foreword. A clarion call for environmentalists and lovers of literature alike, Crosscurrents North challenges us to reconsider our relationship to the natural world.

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2008

Reviews

[Hedgebrook]

In this collection collection of sixty-one essays and poems, edited by Anne Coray and Hedgebrook alumna Marybeth Holleman, "Alaskans express admiration and awe of the landscape and its wild inhabitants. Celebratory, sobering, and thought provoking, these writings also bear witness to the effects of climate change and development. They ponder the irony of the authors' own impact, an inevitable consequence of living here. Contributors to this anthology span the state and include familiar names: John Haines, Nick Jans, Peggy Shumaker, Nancy Lord, and Richard Nelson. There are also new voices like Mike Burwell and Amy Crawford, and Alaska Native writers, including Joan Kane and Howard Luke. All are passionate about their world—a world populated by icons such as whales, wolves, and bears, and a microcosm, significant in its own right, of mushrooms, sand lance, and berries, upon which all depend."