cover image Last Great Wilderness: The Campaign to Establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Last Great Wilderness: The Campaign to Establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Roger Kaye. University of Alaska Press, $29.95 (283pp) ISBN 978-1-889963-83-9

Wilderness specialist Kaye, in his introduction, remarks that the present-day participants in the continuing debate over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge know exceedingly little about the origins of ANWR in the years after World War II, including the rationale for defining such a refuge and the process by which it was established. Kaye has done a tremendous public service by researching the events that led up to the 1960 establishment of ANWR and its expansion in 1980, making this book a ""must-have"" reference for everyone interested in the fate of the refuge. Many of the active participants from the 1940s and '50s are elderly or deceased, but Kaye has interviewed all the survivors, as well as the spouses, children, friends and colleagues of those who have died. He also gained access to important archives in Alaska and elsewhere which allow him to document the activities and viewpoints of both proponents and opponents. His goal was to write a balanced account in which all parties get fair representation, and he has generally succeeded. The text is occasionally dry, his efforts to remain non-judgmental render some of the more colorful characters less vivid, and there is no real sociological or psychological analysis except in passing. These drawbacks can be countered by reading Stephen Haycox's more populist 2002 book, Frigid Embrace: Politics, Economics and Environment in Alaska, alongside. Taken together, the two books provide a comprehensive understanding of the issues and the politics.