Anchorage Daily News

Jack London's Racial Lives

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By Jeanne Campbell Reesman (University of Georgia Press, $34.95)

The blurb: Although he promoted white superiority in novels and nonfiction, London sharply satirized racism and meaningfully portrayed racial others -- most often as protagonists -- in his short fiction. Why the disparity? For London racial and class identity were intertwined. His mother taught him racism, but he learned something different from his African American foster mother.

Excerpt: "London creates a set of heroes opposed in race and gender terms, including white 'Sons,' young Indian men, Indian women (daughters), and Indian fathers (old men). The willingness on the part of white men to make interracial marriages helped undo Indian families and cultures, not the whites' racial aversion. One notes not only the dominance of white males in these stories, but also the pivotal agency of the Indian brides present as active participants in their unions. Indian men are the losers."

The Northern Lights: Secrets of the Aurora Borealis

By Syun-Ichi Akasofu (Alaska Northwest Books, $18.95)

The blurb: One of the world's foremost authorities on the aurora reviews the history and legends surrounding the northern lights and explains the science behind the magic with clarity and detail. Illustrated throughout with stunning photographs plus explanatory diagrams, charts and satellite photographs, Akasofu's reissued edition offers a comprehensive look at this elusive phenomenon.

Excerpt: "Many people have reported hearing a crackling or hissing sound coming from the aurora on occasion. ... To study such a 'phenomenon,' auroral scientists must, first of all, record and analyze it. Unfortunately, scientists have not been able to record any sound even with modern, sophisticated audio equipment. Auroral scientists have discovered that an intense auroral display does produce very low-frequency pressure pulses (infrasonic), but their frequency is too low to be detected audibly."

Alaska Quarterly Review

Editor: Ron Spatz et al. (University of Alaska Anchorage, $6.95)

The blurb: One of America's premier literary magazines for 26 years, the current volume includes 13 fiction stories, "New and Selected Poems" by Alaskan Robert Davis Hoffman and four essays, including "About a Moment" by state writer laureate Nancy Lord.

Excerpt: "Us kids are relieved when Fox and Uncle Sly roll out one way and we roll another, bruised butts in the seats. We're piled into Big Mary, our station wagon that barely fits us all in and is a miracle for starting up. We're packed in with a big pot full of frozen moose meat and whatever we have to eat in the back along with a jumbleball of afghans Polar Bear is always knitting. Fox and Uncle Sly go hunting at the homestead and Polar Bear drives us out of Anchorage to see Aunt Sheila and Jack and Gracie, our cousins, at their house that Uncle Sly built all googly-eyed drunk and has gone through a few names -- Slack Shack, Plywood Palace, and the one we all remember and still use is The Tiltin' Hilton."

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