A Republic of Rivers: Three Centuries of Nature Writing from Alaska and the Yukon

by John A. Murray (Editor)

"The spell of Alaska," Ella Higginson wrote in 1908, "falls upon every lover of beauty who has voyaged along those far northern snow-pearled shores...or who has drifted down the mighty rivers of the interior which flow, bell-toned and lonely, to the sea.... No writer has ever described Alaska;
no one writer ever will; but each must do his share, according to the spell that the country casts upon him."
In A Republic of Rivers , John Murray offers the first comprehensive anthology of nature writing in Alaska and the Yukon, ranging from 1741 to the present. Many of the writers found here are major figures--John Muir, Jack London, Annie Dillard, Barry Lopez, and Edward Abbey--but we also
discover the voices of missionaries, explorers, mountain-climbers, Native Americans, miners, scientists, backpackers, and fishermen, each trying to capture something of the beauty of this still pristine land, to render in their own words the spell that the country casts upon them. The range of
viewpoints is remarkable. With Annie Dillard we look out at ice floes near the remote Barter Island and see "what newborn babies must nothing but senseless variations of light on the retinas." With Frederick Litke we mourn the senseless slaughter of sea mammals. We join scientist Adolph Murie,
the father of wolf ecology, as he probes the daily life of an East Fork wolf pack. And we listen as Tlingit Indian Johnny Jack relates the difficulty of maintaining a dignified life close to nature at a time of cultural upheaval for his people. Most of these selections have never appeared in any
anthology and some entries--particularly those written by early American and Russian explorers--have never been available to general readers.
There is laughter here and there is sorrow, but finally there is communion and liberation as generation after generation encounter the unsurpassed beauty and wildness of the Arctic. Taken together, these forty-nine men and women provide a unique portrait of America's final frontier.

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

48 short selections on Alaska - exploration, nature writing, folk tales and poetry (minimal amounts of these) - dating from 1741 to 1989. The editor prefaces each selection with a blurb, and I found his editorial voice often invasive and prejudicial. For example, he instructs that

"In both cases [writers Mary Austin and Ella Higginson] modern readers may be distracted by the purple prose that was stylish at the turn of the [20th] century. "I have often stood at midnight," Higginson writes, "and watched the amethyst lights on the mountains darken to violet, purple, black - while the peaks themselves stood white and still, softly outlined against the sky."

Now, while that's literally purple prose, anyone who has read nature writing of the last few decades will easily be able to come up with passages purpler. Barry Lopez, writing in 1988 and excerpted here, mushes, "The wind, like some energetic dealer in rare fabrics, folds back branches and ruffles the underside of leaves..." It's hard to see how modern readers could be distracted by Ella Higginson, if they've been reading Annie Dillard or Gretel Ehrlich. Most modern nature writing, at least the kind the critics celebrate, is about as purple and pompous as it gets.

Two excerpts here whetted my appetite, Hudson Stuck on his ascent of Mount McKinley (his expedition was the first to summit), and Adolph Murie on the wolves of Mount McKinley.

[Russ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Republic of Rivers is an enjoyable collection of writing from Alaska and the Yukon, spanning almost 300 years. What I loved most is how varied it is—traditional stories, personal reflections, historical moments, and modern voices all woven together. It feels less like reading an anthology and more like sitting around a campfire listening to different people share what the North means to them. What I liked least was the excerpts were so short.

John Murray does a good job introducing each section without getting in the way. The writers themselves carry the book, and their connection to the land comes through in a way that’s honest, grounded, and sometimes moving.

If you’re interested in Alaska or the Yukon, or just want to hear from some well known voices and others less known, this is a good and very approachable read.