Shopping for Porcupine: A Life in Arctic Alaska

In a lovely memoir, writer and photographer Kantner (author of the novel Ordinary Wolves) shares scenes from life in Alaska, from his childhood in the remote tundra, where his parents lived off the land in an isolated, ""semi-Eskimo existence,"" to his current home, the small town of Kotzebue, with his wife and daughter. Kantner reflects on wilderness, global warming and human encroachment, the changes that slowly make their way to the tundra (""the snowmobile and the demise of working dogs was a major tipping point"") and the hard reality behind the American Dream: ""as in the Old West, it is what we've lost that marks who we are much more than these things we've gained."" While turning in a thoughtful and captivating memoir of subsistence living, isolation and uncertainty (""There was always meat but questions too: What would happen if our dad fell through the ice...?), he documents the wisdom of the disappearing Inuit culture his dad revered, and locates its place in modern life. With a sensitive, graceful voice and his own stunning color images, Kantner proves an appealing and talented artist.