Over time, Alaska has become synonymous with the idea of wilderness--nature, free and unspoiled. Yet while the concept of this open, untamed countryside--the "land of the midnight sun"--has a romantic appeal, the reality is quite different and often much more severe. Alaska is a place where communities are isolated, winters are long, and temperatures can freeze flesh as hard as a rock in minutes.

This book reveals hard facts, challenges simple assumptions, and transforms Alaska from a wistful idea to a real place with its own changing ecology, economies, society, and values....