The Wanderings of an Environmental Journalist: In Alaska and the American West Book

Here is the New Western History written by Philip L. Fradkin a decade before that genre was accepted by academic historians. In these timeless articles, Fradkin combines history and the environment and makes unique explorations of those two highly charged and myth-laden concepts. His articles on the intersection of land, culture, ethnicity and history in Alaska and the American West were featured in The Los Angeles Times and Audubon magazine during the 197Os. Breaking new ground, Fradkin's award-winning reports offered the most extensive look at those two regions by a single writer. This volume gathers together for the first time that body of remarkable work, which documented a roller-coaster decade and accurately foretold the Valdez oil spill and other recent environmental tragedies. Section one covers Alaska: the giant waves of Lituya Bay, the battle for Attu during World War II, the first Arctic pipeline, the piloting of supertankers through Valdez Narrows, and the debate over the Alaska rain forest. Fradkin closes that section with a touching essay about forging bonds with his young son during a summer-long journey through the state. The second section covers the American West: drought, fires, and development in California, an energy boomtown in Colorado, overgrazing in Arizona and Nevada, overcrowding everywhere, pressures on wilderness areas and Indian lands, and the endless search for mythic riches. People are ever-present in Fradkin's environmental writings. He not only shows us the impact humans have on the environment, but he also explores how natural landscapes determine human history. Along the way Fradkin reveals the repetitive cycles of history in the West. The past, present, and future converge in these beautifully crafted examples of environmental journalism.