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| | A
Land Gone Lonesome | | An
Inland Voyage along the Yukon River | |
| An expedition into the history of
the upper Yukon River and a portrait of the inimitable river people, historic
and contemporary, who lived there. |
Available
at local, independent book stores or...
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| |
 “O’Neill
casts a mold of the Yukon landscape before nature takes back the last human footprint.
He reintroduces us to our more resourceful selves....To O’Neill, it’s
only fair to leave the scrappy individualists…not only for their sake, but
for ours: to leave a little something for the American imagination, an elemental
way of life that is lonely and lovely and very nearly gone.”
|
—The New
York Times
Book Review |  “O’Neill
spent probably half his life living, researching and finally writing this book.
His love and concern for our great state, Alaska, pour out poetry on the page.
This is the story of Alaska vanishing into 21st century America.” | —Seth
Kantner in Salon.com | | “There
are good stories here, well told....O’Neill does all this in clear, crisp,
and evocative prose, with the reader able to see, hear and sometimes even smell
the characters. As in his earlier books, O’Neill also demonstrates a rare
gift for describing in quick and imaginative prose natural phenomena and scientific
or mechanical processes—the properties of glaciers; the operation of a dredge;
and the many different ways there are to die when plunged suddenly into icy water.” | | | “This
is one of the finest books of the year, a high caliber work, outstanding in every
way….The book is uncommonly well written, imbued with understated humor and
passion.” | —Outdoor
Book Reviews
| | “O’Neill
sets his big passions, poetic eye and his canoe on the Yukon, from Dawson to Circle
City, documenting, as he drifts, a land once inhabited by the kind of people Alaskans
take so much pride in they could be stitched on our flag. ...An important
testament to the land and to the people who once lived on it. …[T]here’s
plenty of gorgeous physical description…a splendid job of capturing the better
stories.” | | | "Canadian
author Pierre Burton and poet Robert W. Service each famously chronicled their
homes in Dawson, Yukon Territory. In 1937, Ernie Pyle visited Eagle, Alaska, and
40 years later John McPhee wrote of Eagle in his widely praised Coming Into
the Country. Now O'Neill bravely goes where those men have gone before; his
journal of his own voyage of rediscovery is equally wonderful....the reportage
is cool and bright as the flowing waters of the Yukon. Another writerly gold strike
in the Klondike." | | | "
Dan O'Neill's book—like the great John Graves classic, Goodbye to a River,
and John McPhee's famous and wonderful Coming into the Country—stands
as testimony to a time like the landscape itself, one of greater strength and
integrity....A Land Gone Lonesome is a fantastic read." | —Rick
Bass | | "The
scarcer the population, the more deeply felt the history. Here in one of the margins
of the continent, are some of the grand stories of Americans who went looking
precisely for those margins. Dan O'Neill has given anyone with a restless imagination
a real gift." | | | "Dan
O'Neill speaks not as a recreational visitor but as a resident in the true sense—one
who has lived the life of which he writes. Read this book and learn what it has
to teach. It's an Alaskan classic, or so it seems to me." | | | "[W]itty,
engaging. O'Neill's meditations on the river branch into epic themes of self-reliance,
heroism and humanity. Poetic renderings of creeks, camps and log cabin settlements
bestow a refined gloss on tough terrain, reviving the moribund spirit of the 'ghost
river connecting ghost towns.'" | | Winner:
2006 Outstanding Alaskana of the Year Award, Alaska Library Association. Selected
as one of the
“50 Hot Summer Books”
by Entertainment Weekly. Selected
by National Geographic Traveler for its "Ultimate Travel Library—North
America." |
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| | The
Last Giant of Beringia | | The
Mystery of the Bering Land Bridge | |
| The story of how geologist Dave Hopkins
proved the existence of a vanished land bridge that once connected Siberia to
the New World during the Ice Age. |
Available
at local, independent book stores or...
| |
| | |
"[A]
beautiful and engrossing book. This wonderful integration of science and history,
of anecdote and theory, of reflection and controversy, is the most complete review
of our understanding of Beringia and of how that knowledge came to be. It is an
apt memorial to the greatest Beringian scientist who ever lived. I recommend it
to anyone interested in the Arctic, the Pleistocene epoch, Native Americans, archaeology,
geology, exploration. Well, I recommend it to everyone." | | | "A
synthesis of biography, history and scientific explanation, O'Neill's book is
a fitting tribute to a man known for his multi-disciplinarian approach and intellectual
progeny." | —Times
Literary Supplement | | "O'Neill
is a talented and imaginative writer. This is strikingly effective—vivid
imagery that does in a paragraph what would be difficult to do in pages of ordinary
laborious prose, and something that good poetry and the very best prose have in
common." | | | “Dan
O’Neill has done it just right, for this well-crafted biography is not just
of a man, Dave Hopkins, but of a place, the now-submerged Bering Land Bridge.
O’Neill neatly captures scientific knowledge in the making. Along the way
he brings alive this piece of earth history so vital to understanding Ice Age
trafficking of plants, animals, and people between Asia and America.” | —Prof.
David Meltzer, Author of
Search for the First Americans | | "[F]inely
researched, elegantly written." | | | “A
satisfying [tale], an instructive record of an inquiring mind and a life well
lived.” | | | “Gripping…If
O’Neill was looking for a scientific mystery, the Bering Land Bridge was
a great one.” | | | "[A]
fascinating look at the long-rumored land bridge between Alaska and Siberia and
the unlikely geologist who devoted his life to proving its existence." | —Seattle
Post-Intelligencer | | "[A]
stunning contribution." | —Prof.
Tom D. Dillehay, author of The Settlement of the Americas | | “Dan
O’Neill enriches the literature of the Bering Land Bridge by sharing the
exciting life and time of Beringia’s greatest scientist.” | —E.
James Dixon, author of
Quest for the origins of the First Americans |
| |
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| | The
Firecracker Boys | H-bombs,
Inupiat Eskimos, and the Roots of the Environmental Movement
|
| In 1958, Father of the H-bomb, Edward
Teller, unveiled his plan to excavate a massive instant harbor on the coast of
Alaska by detonating thermonuclear bombs. Instead, he accidentally launched the
environmental movement. |
Available
at local, independent book stores or...
| |
| | | “The
Firecracker Boys, exceptionally well-researched and well-written, is a scary
and infuriating story of nuclear irresponsibility and the human tragedy only narrowly
averted; as an historically important book, its reissue is most welcome.”
| —Peter Matthiessen |
"O'Neill
has told a powerful story and made a valuable contribution to the history of both
the Cold War and the rise of the environmental movement." |
—Philadelphia
Inquirer | | "A
gifted, passionate writer, O'Neill tells a story that, had it occurred in the
lower 48 states, would have received immense attention." | | | "Fascinating,
disturbing....O'Neill's achievement [is] brilliant....Timely and significant." | | | "An
exciting account of a dismal but significant chapter in the recent history of
science and society....A frightening illustration of the danger to democracy of
secret, unaccountable science..." | | | "Dan
O'Neill's absorbing new book is a major contribution to this ongoing process of
historical excavation...[An] exemplary case study...invariably balanced and judicious." | —Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists | | "A
riveting, if frightening, story....A remarkable job of organizing vast amounts
of information into a story that reads like a suspense novel." | | | "O'Neill
limns in glorious detail the richness of Arctic wildlife and Eskimo culture....Eyebrow
and conscious raising at its ecological best." | —Kirkus
Reviews (Starred Review) | | "O'Neill
has shown considerable persistence, ingenuity and courage in telling a story that
influential individuals and institutions would rather keep quiet." | | | "Engrossing,
well-documented....An inspiring tale of courageous opposition by local residents,
early environmental activists and scientists willing to risk their careers to
stop the plan." | | Winner:
Outstanding Alaskana Award, Alaska Library Association. Winner:
Historian of the Year Award, Alaska Historical Society. Winner:
Academic Freedom Award, Alaska Community College Federation of Teachers. |
