Reading the North

By Andrew Wiget and Olga Balalaeva (University of Alaska Press, $39.95)

The blurb: Drawing on nearly 20 years of fieldwork, this volume takes a close look at changes in the lives of indigenous Siberian Khanty people and draws connections between those and the transformations that swept Russia during the last century.

Excerpt: "The core of Khanty religion is the linkage between spirits (Kh., Iunk), land, and kin, which, however variously formulated, always makes the same point: those who are now our gods are also our ancestors, who lived here on this land before us. Less clear is the degree to which Khanty religion can continue to be viewed as constitutive of Khanty self-identification. Certain elements of Khanty religion are so widely circulated and well known that almost any Khanty person has some knowledge of them. Other aspects, such as the nature of particular gods, like Taren, Puyus Imi, or Yyus Nay Anki, are known by most only superficially. Then, too, more reflective Khanty may freely speculate, trying to interpret as much for themselves as for us, what the tradition might mean to them in contemporary terms."

A Hard Way to Make an Easy Living

By Corky Decker with Barbara Gimlin (Trafford Publishing)

The blurb: The memoir recounts Corky Decker's life as a commercial fisherman in Alaska, beginning 1985 in Kodiak and ending in 2002 when he was fired from his position as captain of a 150-foot factory trawler for practices used to pre-sort halibut.

Excerpt: "Like always with me, I'll stir up a nest of hornets just for the hell of it. When I get comfortable and settled in, regardless of what it is in my life, the rebel comes out. I would have made a great pirate.

"I started to question a lot of what I was seeing in the company operations for the Rebecca Irene. I disagreed with the huge Danish influence that seemed to dominate management decisions, and I openly let my opinions be known in the office, which in turn stirred up fires."

Aviation Mysteries of the North: Disappearances in Alaska and Canada

By Gregory P. Liefer (Publication Consultants, $19.95)

The blurb: Detailing the events surrounding the disappearances of large capacity aircraft, the compilation of accounts addresses planes lost in the North over the course of the past four decades.

Excerpt: "Secrecy shrouded the takeoff of Soviet aviator Sigismund Levanevsky and his five-man crew aboard a four engine Bolkhovitinov DB-A aircraft from Moscow in August 1937. For weeks preceding the departure only small bits of information regarding the proposed flight across the North Pole were released to the world by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's communist regime. Many details were not revealed until absolutely necessary, and only then in the briefest of formats. The exact route and final destination after crossing the Pole were even kept secret until the day of departure."

-- Compiled by Matt Sullivan, Anchorage Daily News