book data
346 ratings, 4.20 average rating, 45 reviews
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published
1979
by Bantam Books
binding
Paperback, 417 pages
isbn
0553120301
(isbn13: 9780553120301)
description
Residents of the Lower 48 sometimes imagine Alaska as a snow-covered land of igloos, oil pipelines, and polar bears. But Alaska is far more complex g...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 472)
“If anyone could figure out how to steal Italy, Alaska would be the place to hid it." What a vivid way to describe Alaska's immensity. 'There has been a host of excellent books on Alaska. My favorite until recently was Joe McGinnis's Going to Extremes but John McPhee's Coming Into the Country is wonderful, too.
McPhee's book is divided into three parts: first an exploration of wilderness described during the course of a ca...more
McPhee's book is divided into three parts: first an exploration of wilderness described during the course of a ca...more
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My family raves about John McPhee, but I wasn't thrilled with this book. I gave it a three star rating, but it was more like a 2 with some bits of 4's and 5's scattered throughout. Oddly, the parts I liked best were not about humans, but about grizzly bears. There's a lot of camping, fishing, airplane and boat jargon that I was too lazy to look up in a dictionary and therefore didn't really understand. The whole middle section is about differing views of where the capital of Alaska should be...more
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Read in November, 2008
Another good John McPhee collection of essays. I guess they're all pretty much like this, with some truly exceptional stuff mixed in with material that I find less appealing. The writing is always engaging but sometimes veers (usually briefly) into purple prose. Half the book is taken up with one long essay describing the residents of a tiny bush town on the Yukon River and the huge, almost totally unpopulated region surrounding the town. The area is apparently stuffed full of fascinating c...more
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Read in March, 2006
This book made me afraid to read any other John McPhee -- and there's apparently a copious amount of McPhee -- because they might not be as perfect as this one. He writes right on the ridgeline between dull and transcendent (and transcendence, without contrast, without a reminder of what is transcended, gets dull again), and I fear that other books might tip off and be gone baby gone.
Also, Drop City was a really good book -- and most of what was good about it was taken pretty much directly ...more
Also, Drop City was a really good book -- and most of what was good about it was taken pretty much directly ...more
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Read in July, 2002
Awsome book that made me fall in love with Alaskan Rednecks. I read this book in the Summer of 2002 while working as a Raft Guid on the Nennana River that borders Denali National Park Alaska.
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
people planning to travel to Alaska, fans of "Into the Wild"
Three adventures from backcountry Alaska.
The first, about a canoe trip with naturalists, kept putting me to sleep (sorry, John!). The second concerns a search for a new Alaskan capital city, and that was pretty interesting especially in light of the fact that it still hasn't happened. The third section of the book, also called "Coming Into the Country," is the most compelling. It concerns those who live in back-country Alaska far from towns, sometimes in country reachable only by ca...more
The first, about a canoe trip with naturalists, kept putting me to sleep (sorry, John!). The second concerns a search for a new Alaskan capital city, and that was pretty interesting especially in light of the fact that it still hasn't happened. The third section of the book, also called "Coming Into the Country," is the most compelling. It concerns those who live in back-country Alaska far from towns, sometimes in country reachable only by ca...more
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Read in June, 2002
This is the book that inspired me to move to Alaska.
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
Kelly
It took me awhile to get into it - this is one of McPhee's earlier books as far as I can tell but you can already some of the style for which I read his work... He has this wonderful way of introducing you to people and weaving them into his narrative, and his last 'book'/section about folks who live deep in the heart of Alaska is fascinating. This is Alaska in the 1970s, and it'd be interesting to see how different, or the same, it is from today...
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Read in July, 1986
It won't take you long to discover my hard leaning towards John McPhee as my favorite nonfiction writer. His fluid, fact-built, style suits me well. This book was given to me by a friend prior to my first visit to Alaska in 1986. It proved a terrific introduction to this great state. McPhee covers a lot of ground, from the geology, geography, political history, and native culture. It still reads well today more than 30 years after he wrote it.
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Read in June, 2007
Got this book from a glorious colleague before my first trip to Alaska. Find McPhee's style on the dry side - and how one can make the state dry, I'll never know. But imagining meeting these Alaskans and seeing this Alaska in the (?60s?) is enough to make me get through the book. He highlights my aunt and uncle's bush town - but I only felt the spirit of the place b/c I'd met some of the people he's talking about - and I'd seen the streets.
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Read in December, 2008
Parts are fascinating, like his evocation of the Alaskan wildlands and the pioneer types who live there. Even tho it was written in the 70's I learned from this book how politically isolated Alaska is and how being independent is the prevailing attitude in its people and was therefore not too surprised at what transpired this fall during the presidential election. Everything I've ever read by John McPhee has been great.
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Read in January, 1988
Coming into the Country is an all-time favorite and incubated my love for the state of Alaska (which I have still never stepped into). John McPhee makes the reader feel as if she is truly pulling an arctic grayling out of the water or pushing his way through thick alders, calling out for grizzly bears. If you're interested in Alaska, this will change your perspective on the state, and it will change your life.
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Seeing as that I'm not an avid reader, this book took a while to finish. I love Alaska! McPhee books are genuine and this book paints an excellent picture of the various lifestyles in the 49th state. Although it's tucked away (out of site...out of mind) politics thrive on many scales. The sense of desolation is incredible!
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Really, I admire almost everything that McPhee has written. But this book stands alone. It's a series of portraits of Alaskans, and of Alaska itself... but while the writing and the stories are wonderful, it's McPhee's aesthetic that gets me. I just agree with his way of seeing people and things, and his sense of beauty.
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Read in November, 2007
Nonfiction title about life in Eagle, Alaska and the Bush thereabouts. Just when you think you're kind of entering into the realm of being somewhat of a badass, you read this book and realize that merely by living below the 48th parallel makes you nothing more than a waterboy on the football field of life.
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McPhee is a genius of non-fiction narrative and this may be my favorite of his many books. He tells a number of stories about people living and working in America's last frontier. As usual, he has a great sense of the land as well and that comes through in his wonderful descriptive writing.
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This is a good book for anyone who travels to Alaska--that's why I read it. Although a bit dated, it gives a good overview of the Alaska mindset. I found the first two sections a little slow, but I really enjoyed the third part which describes the inhabitants of two bush towns.
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Read in January, 1996
John McPhee can make anything interesting. In Coming Into the Country he writes about the history, geography and people who settled Alaska. Somehow he has such curiosity and such a way with words that it all came alive for me. This is a book to read and reread.
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Read in January, 1988
It would be a wonderful thing if the movie Into The Wild caused people to seek this book out. You'll go to places in Alaska that are difficult to get to, and some that probably no longer exist as portrayed.
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Of outdoor, nature writer's - McPhee is one of the finest. This book of short stories - mostly in Alaska - is hard to put down. It makes you want to take a wilderness canoe trip through the back country.
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