Anchorage Daily News

When the Laughing Stopped: The Strange, Sad Death of Will Rogers

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By John Evangelist Walsh (University of Alaska Press, $26.95)

The blurb: "Drawing on extensive original research, author John Walsh recounts the whole tragic story with an unprecedented wealth of new detail that brings the crash and all that preceded and followed it to vivid, dramatic life in a compelling narrative. Here is the definitive treatment of one of the country's true tragedies, including a moving portrait of the unfortunate Mary and a full discussion and analysis of the cause of the crash."

Excerpt: "Then if at any point he spotted trouble ahead he'd just set down on any one of the thousand lakes they'd be flying over, 'open a can of chili and have a party.' If he had to, he'd turn around and go back to Fairbanks. No, Crosson warned, up here you don't figure the weather like that. You wait. You sit where you are and wait. Yeah, yeah, came back the irritated Post. Listen, Joe, going around the world by myself I had to make a hundred quick decisions on weather. He thought he knew what he was doing. He wasn't an idiot, wasn't crazy. They'd be OK. He'd make sure they kept out of fog. He wasn't going to risk a passenger like Will Rogers flying blind in fog."

Discovery at Prudhoe Bay

By John M. Sweet (Hancock House Publishers, $19.95)

The blurb: "Adventure permeates the history of one of the most significant economic enterprises to occur in the 20th century. Atlantic Richfield Co. (ARCO) and Humble Oil beat discouraging odds and expense to discover the largest subsurface accumulation of oil on the North American continent. Author John Sweet, a former ARCO geologist, recounts with clarity and accuracy the stories of the many individuals who made success possible and in the process celebrates a colossal oil exploration feat and a world-class engineering and construction project."

Excerpt: "Tom Marshall deserves a monument for persisting in his recommendation for the state to select the acreage where the Prudhoe Bay oil discovery was made. Tom is modest and would likely shrink from such recognition. The unbelievable dividends the state and individual Alaskans have enjoyed since the discovery have emanated from his appointment as the lands selection officer in 1960. How about a Thomas R. Marshall Chair of Geology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks?"

Nature's Beloved Son

By Bonnie J. Gisel with images by Stephen J. Joseph (Heyday Books, $45)

The blurb: "In this opulently produced book, photographer Stephen J. Joseph presents images of plants collected directly by John Muir, while scholar Bonnie J. Gisel richly lays before us the life and words of a man at once familiar and surprising, a towering figure forever smitten with 'natures's irresistible, divine beauty.' "

Excerpt: "Muir regarded Alaska as 'nature's own reservation.' His allegiance to her resulted from his deep love, respect, and sympathy, and he recognized that the beauty of the pristine wilderness must take precedence over demand for resources. Development involved the destruction of the scenic beauty with which Alaska was indelibly identified, and Muir believed that the destruction of nature was the destruction of life itself."

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