Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son

Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son - Hardcover

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Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son
  • Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son
Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son - Hardcover

Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son - Hardcover

by Mary F. Ehrlander
$32.95
$32.95
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Hardcover $32.95 Paperback $24.95

Book Overview

2018 Alaskana Award from the Alaska Library Association
2018 Alaska Historical Society James H. Drucker Alaska Historian of the Year Award

Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son illuminates the life of the remarkable Irish-Athabascan man who was the first person to summit Mount Denali, North America's tallest mountain. Born in 1893, Walter Harper was the youngest child of Jenny Albert and the legendary gold prospector Arthur Harper. His parents separated shortly after his birth, and his mother raised Walter in the Athabascan tradition, speaking her Koyukon-Athabascan language. When Walter was seventeen years old, Episcopal archdeacon Hudson Stuck hired the skilled and charismatic youth as his riverboat pilot and winter trail guide. During the following years, as the two traveled among Interior Alaska's Episcopal missions, they developed a father-son-like bond and summited Denali together in 1913.

Walter's strong Athabascan identity allowed him to remain grounded in his birth culture as his Western education expanded, and he became a leader and a bridge between Alaska Native peoples and Westerners in the Alaska territory. He planned to become a medical missionary in Interior Alaska, but his life was cut short at the age of twenty-five, in the Princess Sophia disaster of 1918 near Skagway, Alaska.

Harper exemplified resilience during an era when rapid socioeconomic and cultural change was wreaking havoc in Alaska Native villages. Today he stands equally as an exemplar of Athabascan manhood and healthy acculturation to Western lifeways whose life will resonate with today's readers.

ISBN9780803295902
Author Mary F. Ehrlander
PublisherBison Books
GenreBiography and Sports
FormatHardcover
PublishedOctober 2017
LanguageENG- English
Pages216
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Biography & Autobiography Nonfiction Sports & Recreation

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More by Mary F. Ehrlander

Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son

Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son - Paperback

Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son - Paperback

By Mary F. Ehrlander

About Mary F. Ehrlander

Mary F. Ehrlander is a professor emeritus of history and Arctic and northern studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She is the winner of the 2018 Alaska Historical Society James H. Drucker Alaska Historian of the Year Award and is the author of Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son (Nebraska, 2017), winner of the Alaska Library Association's 2018 Alaskana Award. Hild M. Peters holds an MA in Arctic and northern studies from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her research includes Indigenous and Alaskan history, and she is an active participant in numerous historical societies. After thirty years of service at UAF, Peters recently retired and launched a career with the Fairbanks Native Association. She is a member of the Koyukon Athabascan community through marriage and resides with her husband and two sons in Fairbanks.

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