Brilliant three-part, million-facet look at Alaska. My favorite part is probably the first--"The Encircled River"--which is literally a textbook example of how to write a travel narrative, with a grizzly at each end. The middle part is sly political commentary, but the last and longest part is what McPhee is always doing: introducing you to people and arranging that you see the world from their eyes, even when they can't do that for each other. The scale and the number of inhabitants of Eagle, AK, and environs is suitably Alaskan, and so alien to what I like, believe, care for, or share that it is astounding how long I spent in that place and still enjoyed myself. It's always McPhee, without a wristwatch, terrified of grizzlies, and listening loudly that makes this work. Recommended for social distancing.

I've read this twice, many years apart. Mostly a historic document now -- but what a history!
One of the rereads was in our camp at Flat, an old and formerly very, very rich placer gold camp. It was a pretty miserable job (cheap jr. company, but I needed the work), but a nice group of co-workers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat,_A... Iditarod was the river port for Flat. Somewhere I have a handful of blank checks from the vault of the old Bank of Iditarod. . . .

Tony's is the review to read: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... McPhee is just a flat amazing writer. 4.4 stars, by memory.

Full of so much Alaskan history and personal stories of those who settled there. Very descriptive, not only of the beauty, the grandeur, the wildness and hardships, but also of the differing attitudes of those who still sought a community life and those who sought to be left alone. Quite a read!

This may be one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. I’m not saying it’s the best book I’ve ever read, but the experience of reading it was so utterly enjoyable and interesting that despite its worthy length of 438+ pages, I wished for more. Even though the book is dated, and many things have changed since the 1970s, when it was written, I was just lapping everything up. I know my state capitals, and where Alaska’s is, but the part of the book on the debate of where to move the capital had me referencing Wikipedia just to be sure. Getting a glimpse at the various personalities around Eagle was delightful. I adore McPhee’s writing style, and his subtle humor, and this gives me the feeling that I may soon be ready to tackle Annals of a Former World again. I think I will read another one or two of his works first, though, just to be sure.

A clear classic, "Coming into the Country" depicts McPhee's personal journey through Alaska and Alaskan life. The book had been recommended to me by several folks as an example of accessible non-fiction writing, although it's certainly of a distinctive genre. It doesn't, for instance, attempt to explicitly make sense of the cultural or socio-technical systems of Alaska, nor to tell the story of a particular piece of Alaskan history or environment - at least in a methodical way. Rather, it weaves together a large number of personal stories - of characters that McPhee encounters in his time - to provide fleeting glimpses into this world. As such, I struggled to use it as a template for my own creative non-fiction writing... while simultaneously appreciating it as a piece of literature. At times, the separate stories could be a little lurchy and hard to follow, and McPhee isn't the most accessible of writers (quite a rich vocabulary that sent me diving periodically for a dictionary). Yet, the stories kept drawing you back.

McPhee travels through Alaska, profiling the many, diverse people he meets along the way. Parts of it are dated, especially the extended section discussing possibly relocating the state capital from Juneau. McPhee is a little too sympathetic with some people, especially the gold miners who completely destroy the countryside for very little money, and who behave almost like terrorists. I had to grit my teeth through these long sections. Overall, like everything McPhee has written, it is smooth and engaging. I don't know that it is insightful, but he certainly introduces us to interesting people.

This was a long, deep education on Alaska and my first McPhee book. The narrative dates back to the 1970s, but I think it is still relevant. McPhee uses a very wide, and possibly old fashioned, vocabulary. I had to look up some words to be sure of their meaning!
The book goes deep on Alaskan people's attitudes and the contradictory pressures on the environment. I liked this book a lot, although I had the benefit of reading it in Alaska and took several months.

McPhee is a master at shaping a narrative and giving everyone a balanced approach. He helps you understand more about "The Great Country" another translation of Alaska. He gives detailed descriptions of what it's like to live in the Bush and gives you a condensed history of the 49th state.

i enjoy stuff about Alaska, and more broadly, sociological (and political (though this dealt with the politics more lightly)) approaches to arctic and subarctic areas, which in some ways remains the last frontier (on this planet) nearly fifty years after this book was written. lots of fun characters and attitudes and historical vignettes.

i respect the associative, meandering style more than i really enjoyed reading it; found it all a bit too diffuse. felt more fragmented than woven, more bricocolage than tapestry, until the end, with the introduction of the chief of Eagle Village chief, introducing some of the ideas that were previously left implicit or unexplored.

McPhee's Coming Into the Country is rightly considered a classic with its detailed description on life in mid-1970s Alaska. Much of the writing is stunning, packed full of river trips and anecdotes about characters the author encountered during his many months in the country. He captures well the contradictions embodied in many Alaskans: a thirst for solitude alternating with a an affinity for social gatherings, an abhorrence of government even as they live and trap on public land, and the sparse population combined with a sense that there are few places left to go, live, and be free. McPhee's writing style full of rapid fire quotes summing up various points of view is effective in conveying these contradictions. He also captures an important transitional time in the state's history when the Trans-Alaskan oil pipeline and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act were new realities. Read nearly 40 years after it was published, I believe the book reflects an important historical slice of Alaskan culture.

Despite the overall high quality of writing, I found that some parts dragged (I found myself skimming dozens of pages related to a possible shift of Alaska's capital city from Juneau to parts unknown). If 4.5 stars were possible, that is what it would receive from me.

Alaska is a fantastic setting and McPhee intertwines a lot of themes in interesting ways: Frontierism, environmental preservation, geopolitics, native rights, individuality and self sufficiency, mining history... I think it falls off a little in the 3rd section as it becomes less tightly structured and more of a series of biographical vignettes and a portrait of bush country. The first and second parts are among the best I've read of him.

It's hard to believe this book is almost 35 years old, a long time in this genre, and one wonders how he would report a visit to Alaska now. I have enjoyed many of his pieces, and this one is pretty good too. If I have any qualms, it might be that he is a tad repetitive and some of the information was perhaps a bit more than I wanted to hear about. I think it could easily have been a hundred pages trimmed, but I guess you can always skip past things if you wanted to. Oddly enough, even as beautiful as so many people say Alaska is, it is one place I do not have that much of a craze to visit.