Posted on July 18, 2009 by Nayab Naseer

Alaska is James A Michener’s popular historical novel, one of his best works, and like most of his books, is a voluminous 1100 pages epic dealing with the history of Alaska in story form, starting from the state’s geographical genesis and ending with Alaska’s role in World War II. The long narrative form that easily and seamless transforms one one age to another covers the arrival of the earliest inhabitants, the discovery and exploration of the early seafearers and the Russian fur traders, the famous transfer of ownership from Russia to the United States of America, the gold rush before ending with the World War.

Michener provides geography and history in a narrative story-plot form. He enlivens the vivid and desolate land and though the plot is a firmament of Michener’s imagination, it nevertheless runs in congruence with established historical facts. The indepth characterization, the realism of the settings and the impeccable storyline reveal Michener’s class.