Os Cangaceiros
20th April 2011, 03:54
"Going To Extremes" was published by Joe McGinniss in the early 80's, about the state of Alaska. Alaska is a bizarre state, and it was even more bizarre in the late 70's: it was a state where seemingly everyone drank like fishes and state congressmen & legislators snorted coke with journalists right before sessions in the state assembly. It was a crazy boomtown state, w/ eccentric characters and outcasts flocking to find their fortunes. It was a state where crazy fundamentalist preachers, prostitutes, cowboys, extremely wealthy native american businessmen, fishermen and destitute drunks all mingled on the same streets. It was a state in which the chief of police in Valdez requested for machine guns to be relegated in that city, only to be vetoed by the city council and the mayor.
When the author was writting the book, the oil pipeline stretching from the North Slope to Valdez was almost completed. This was an event that would change Alaska significantly, and the book reflected that well. However, a lot of what's in the book is highly relatable as well. Alaska still is a very unique state, filled with hillbillies, outcasts, immigrants (my town was filled with filipinos, Mexicans, Turks, Eastern Europeans and others who came to work in the canneries) native americans (Alaska has the highest population of natives of any US state) fortune seekers, people on the run (both from their own personal problems and the law), refugees from the "lower 48" (none of my friends, or myself for that matter, have parents who were born in the state) and people seeking adventure and a different sort of life in the "last frontier".
It's probably the best book on Alaska that I've ever read, and really captures the strange nature of the state and the strange people who live here. The author has some definite prejudices (he seems to characterize Alaskans as drunks and drug addicts more than they actually are, in my experience), but all in all I'd definitely recommend it. It made me proud of my state and the crazy assholes who live in it.
When the author was writting the book, the oil pipeline stretching from the North Slope to Valdez was almost completed. This was an event that would change Alaska significantly, and the book reflected that well. However, a lot of what's in the book is highly relatable as well. Alaska still is a very unique state, filled with hillbillies, outcasts, immigrants (my town was filled with filipinos, Mexicans, Turks, Eastern Europeans and others who came to work in the canneries) native americans (Alaska has the highest population of natives of any US state) fortune seekers, people on the run (both from their own personal problems and the law), refugees from the "lower 48" (none of my friends, or myself for that matter, have parents who were born in the state) and people seeking adventure and a different sort of life in the "last frontier".
It's probably the best book on Alaska that I've ever read, and really captures the strange nature of the state and the strange people who live here. The author has some definite prejudices (he seems to characterize Alaskans as drunks and drug addicts more than they actually are, in my experience), but all in all I'd definitely recommend it. It made me proud of my state and the crazy assholes who live in it.