Chasing Alaska: A Portrait of the Last Frontier Then and Now

Alaska looms as a mythical, savage place, part nature preserve, part theme park, too vast to understand fully. Which is why C. B. Bernard lashed his canoe to his truck and traded the comforts of the Lower 48 for a remote island and a career as a reporter. He soon learned that a distant relation had made the same trek northwest a century earlier. Captain Joe Bernard spent decades in Alaska, amassing the largest single collection of Native artifacts ever gathered, giving his name to landmarks and even a now-extinct species of wolf. C. B. chased the legacy of this explorer and hunter up the family tree, tracking his correspondence, locating artifacts donated to museums, and finding his journals at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. Using these journals as guides, he threw himself into the state once known as Seward’s Folly, boating to remote islands, hiking distant forests, hunting and fishing the pristine environment, forming a landscape view of the place that had lured him and “Uncle Joe,” both men anchored beneath the Northern Lights in freezing, far-flung waters, separated only by time. Here, in crisp, crystalline prose, is his moving portrait of the Last Frontier, then and now.

About the Author :
C. B. Bernard has worked as a newspaper editor, magazine and public radio journalist, senior copywriter at an advertising agency, and marketing and communications specialist. He has been a lecturer at the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast Writers Conference, a featured writer at the Boston Fiction Festival, and a featured speaker at the University of Massachusetts Lowell’s Spring Speakers Series. The Alaska Press Club awarded his series on the oyster farms of Kachemak Bay, and Newsweek columnist Eleanor Clift judged his column about life in Alaska as best in the state. The author of a travel guide to New England bike trails, he has also written extensively for Alaskan Southeaster, Alaska Business Monthly, Pacific Fishing, and Professional Mariner magazine. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Review :
• National Geographic Intelligent Travel Best Travel Book • Oregon Book Awards Finalist • Publishers Weekly Top Ten Travel Pick  • North Shore magazine Beach Read Selection • Bask magazine Top Summer Read • Amazon.com Nature Bestseller • Longfellow Books #1 Bestseller "A thorough and thoroughly enjoyable romp through Alaska ... exhaustive and wildly entertaining. ... The book yields a fascinating crop of adventures and characters. ... He discusses with uncommon intelligence the nature of hunting as a means of subsistence. ... The stories are gripping in the way the best adventure writing is, with enough danger and discovery to keep the reader turning pages way past bedtime. There are polar bears and seasons of privation, plenty of political intrigue and tensions between rival explorers. C. B. Bernard does a fantastic job of collapsing the years between his own experience in Alaska and Joe’s to show how the fierce and wild nature of the people who live in Alaska has persisted over the years. ... Indeed, the real protagonist is Alaska itself, which 'makes everything ordinary impossible to bear.' Thanks to C. B. Bernard’s assured storytelling and vibrant prose style, we understand that sentiment very well. Jack London would approve." —Minneapolis Star Tribune "Bernard's lyrical descriptions of his journey through the wildly varied landscapes of Alaska and his encounters with its colorful inhabitants make readers feel like they are traveling alongside him every step of the way." —Bask magazine "Bernard is an excellent writer. ... His sense of humor and clever words keep us fascinated, not to mention laughing. ... The purchase of two copies is recommended. You will likely wear out the first one from re-reading." —Sitka Sentinel "At its heart, Chasing Alaska becomes a story not only of Alaska's land, history, and wildlife. It becomes a story about its people. ... Poignant." —Homer News "Elegant snapshots of contemporary life in Alaska." —Willamette Week "Bernard writes movingly of the northern climate and landscape, of solitude and distance, of feeling utterly transformed. ... An illuminating quest to understand his fascinating ancestor and himself." —Booklist "The story of Joe Bernard—and his descendants' attempts to understand him and each other—makes this worth a read." —Publishers Weekly "This lyrical book, with its abundant wisdom, humility, and grace, made me see Alaska anew and with deeper regard. Bravo, C. B." —Kim Heacox, author of The Only Kayak and Visions of a Wild America "C. B. Bernard deftly takes us along on the pivotal journey of following his lodestar. His life and his words flourish for this continental migration, and his journey is like an extended vision quest. Through his eye we gather the extreme diversity of the land and the colorful people who inhabit it, past and present. By strapping us in for the ride, Bernard reminds us that we too might discover the breadths of our own waiting potentials." —Mark Warren, author of Two Winters in a Tipi