Only the rocks and the sea live forever

Finished reading Alaska this afternoon; took me 23 days, but it was worth it. I thought it was going to take me the rest of the summer. What an incredible story! With J.M. you not only get a history lesson, or what we used to call "social studies" when I was in elementary school, you also get a science lesson. I've learned a lot about geology, geography, volcanoes and tsunami just in the last chapter, "The Rim of Fire". That's what makes a Michener novel so great. The story has enough character development, relationship tension and action-adventure to keep the reader captivated. They (the novels) are never boring and always educational and entertaining. You can't ask for more than that from fiction. The last chapter takes us into the more recent past, late 1970's & '80's with a number of historical events that most of us (at least those of us born before 1970) will have some memory of. The story ends sometime between 1985 and 1991: after the great Mexico City earthquake, but before the ANCSA expires. The acronym refers to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the 1971 legislation that was intended to address aboriginal land claims and serve as a kind of "economic stimulus" for Alaska. This novel was first published in 1988, so we don't get to learn (in the novel) what happens to ANCSA. However, as acts of congress have a curious habit of self-perpetuation, I suspect that this law has not expired, but rather has been amended and preserved for posterity. At the conclusion of the novel, J.M. seems to suggest that the law will expire and Alaska and its native people will again become vulnerable to shameless exploitation by absentee, Lower Forty-eight industrialists. Perhaps the most fascinating folks in this chapter are the mountaineers. In his disclaimer at the beginning, Michener states that the Japanese climbing team is fictional, but the climb he describes is historical. The summit of Denali/Mount McKinley is the focus of this section and after some sleuthing I learned that there was a famous Japanese adventurer who ascended the 20,320 foot beast, not once, but twice. However, the second time, he disappeared on his descent. His name was Naomi Uemura. He was the first to reach the summit solo. The first people ever to reach the Denali summit were the Sourdoughs. The story of Uemura is quite fascinating itself. I should look for a book about him. The final event in this incredible saga by J.M. is kind of a shocker, but it illustrates perfectly that, in spite of everything humans have done or can possibly do, the land always wins. Only the rocks live forever.