Dreaming Bears: A Gwich'in Indian Storyteller, a Southern Doctor, a Wild Corner of Alaska

In this wonderful wildness adventure memoir, Holloway recollects his time as first year medical student from South Carolina who decides to embark on what would become a life-changing summer adventure to the backcountry of northern Alaska in 1961. Traveling with his brother and a classmate, they are guided to the isolated camp of an 81-year-old Gwich'in Indian medicine-man named Johnny Frank. They end up spending their trip with the storyteller and his wife, Sarah, hunting and fishing, helping with camp chores, and learning the pleasures and hardships of living off the land. Over years, Holloway returns, developing a deep, meaningful, and life-long relationship with Johnny and Sarah Frank, who come to consider him a grandson. He goes on to practice medicine in Alaska before moving to Washington, D.C. to become a lobbyist who advocates environmental issues and the interests of Alaska's native people. Holloway's memoir is an invigorating tale of high-adventure and sturdy self-reliance. It provides an intimate glimpse into life in the Alaskan wilderness and the lives of the remote Gwich'in people. Moreover, it preserves a collection of the stories, memories, and mythology from a Gwich'in elder that might otherwise have been lost with his passing. 24 b&w photos. (May)