num_pages: 438
description: Coming into the Country is an unforgettable account of Alaska and Alaskans. It is a rich tapestry of vivid characters, observed landscapes, and descriptive narrative, in three principal segments that deal, respectively, with a total wilderness, with urban Alaska, and with life in the remoteness of the bush.Readers of McPhee's earlier books will not be unprepared for his surprising shifts of scene and ordering of events, brilliantly combined into an organic whole. In the course of this volume we are made acquainted with the lore and techniques of placer mining, the habits and legends of the barren-ground grizzly, the outlook of a young Athapaskan chief, and tales of the fortitude of settlers-ordinary people compelled by extraordinary dreams. Coming into the Country unites a vast region of America with one of America's notable literary craftsmen, singularly qualified to do justice to the scale and grandeur of the design.
language: English
title: Coming into the Country
titlecomplete: Coming into the Country
genres: Essays, Nature, History, Science, Environment, Natural History, Nonfiction, Travel, Adventure, Memoir
ratings_count: 7004
places: Alaska
awards: awardedAt: 220953600000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
category: General Nonfiction
publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux