Cold River Spirits: The Legacy of an Athabascan-Irish Family from Alaska's Yukon River (inscribed to N. Scott Momaday)
Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press, 2000. First edition. Hardcover. As association copy, inscribed on the title page: "2001, N. Scott Momaday, I'd have enjoyed being at UAF [University of Alaska-Fairbanks] this fall during your time there! Best wishes, Jan Harper-Haines." Uncommon signed. We think the sentiment is she wishes she'd been his student, and UAF is her alma mater (she was born in Sitka). With her small transparent California address label at the bottom of the page. Based on her research and family's stories, "Jan Harper-Haines offers a fascinating saga of her people and their transition from the wild waterways .. to fast-track modern life." Laid is in a postcard of a painting in the Senator Saloon in Fairbanks. Momaday was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for House of the Rising Dawn in 1969 and a key figure of the literary Native American Renaissance. A fine book in fine jacket. Fine / Fine. Item #2143
ISBN: 0945397852
More about the book:
"This is an inspirational and deeply moving story of a proud Alaska Indian family struggling to survive in two worlds. Sam and Louise Harper and their ten children make a soul-grinding transition into a modern white-dominated society where they face bigotry, poverty, and illness. Yet, Louise remains in touch with centuries-old traditions of healing, honoring nature's spirits, and a belief that the spirits of all Athabascans one day will return to the headquarters of the Yukon River. COLD RIVER SPIRITS is an exhilarating story of survival told with humor and grace. Jan Harper-Haines explores her family's powerful conflicts and contrasts with help from her grandmother, who well knew the ancient spirit world, and from her mother, the first Alaska Native to graduate from the University of Alaska." (See this Anchorage Daily News story for more about her.).
Price: $275.00 save 5% $261.25