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U. of Alaska Press

Titles appearing in Reference — Research Book News — December 2011
Arrangement is by title.

The archaeology of North Pacific fisheries.

Ed. by Madonna L. Moss and and Aubrey Cannon.
U. of Alaska Press, ©2011    312 p.    $45.00    SH214
978-1-60223-146-7

This anthology grew out of a symposium at the 2008 annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, held in Vancouver, British Columbia. The 18 studies collected here explore evidence from Alaska to British Columbia to the Puget Sound to provide insights into fish, fishing, and fishing cultures for the 10,000 years or so before European contact. They cover new methodological approaches to the archaeology of fisheries; salmon in the context of regional and local variation, Pacific cod and other Gadids as cousins of the fish that changed the world, and herring and other little-known fish of the North Pacific coast. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Gwich'in Athabascan implements; history, manufacture, and usage according to Reverend David Salmon.

O'Brien, Thomas A.
U. of Alaska Press, ©2011    133 p.    $45.00    E99
978-1-60223-144-3

O'Brien documents in detail the artifact collection made by Salmon (1912-2007) of Chalkyitsik, Alaska. The collection is an assemblage of Gwich'in Athabascan implements reflecting the precontact and early postcontact periods in Alaska's northeastern interior and adjacent northern Yukon Territory, though artifact types form other regions are represented as well. After an introduction to the people and the region, and an overview of the artifacts, the arrangement is by purpose. The sections cover artifacts associated with hunting, fishing, general and specific purposes, gaming, and manufacturing. Detailed drawings and black-and-white photographs accompany the descriptions and explanations. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

My Wrangell Mountains.

Homberger, Ruedi et al.
U. of Alaska Press, ©2011    225 p.    $35.00    F912
978-1-60223-137-5

The incredible landscapes of Alaska's Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve as revealed in Homberger's sumptuous photos (some aerial, some from the ground) are the main focus of this book. The photographer's good friends Jon and Jona Van Zyle have provided material to supported the images, including, captions, some narrative text, some small illustrations, and a couple of maps. The format is horizontal, 12x9 inches. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

North by 2020; perspectives on Alaska's changing social-ecological systems.

Ed. by Amy Lauren Lovecraft and Hajo Eicken.
U. of Alaska Press, ©2011    736 p.    $70.00    G587
978-1-60223-142-9

Most of the papers in this collection addressing change in Alaska and the circumpolar north originated from the University of Alaska's North by 2020: A Forum for Local and Global Perspectives on the North. It is very much an interdisciplinary and wide-ranging collection, encompassing topics such as fresh water and marine resources, oil and gas development, sustainable development, and the arts (climate change and creative expression. The combination of tutorials and research papers provide, through the lenses of social sciences and the arts, the challenges and opportunities faced by the residents of a changing Arctic environment. Editors Lovecraft (political science, U. of Alaska Fairbanks), Eicken (geophysics, U. of Alaska Fairbanks), and 90 co-authors and section editors contributed to the collection. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)