Word: mcphee
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Between 1975 and 1977, John McPhee traveled through and lived in many different Alaskas. "Coming Into the Country," which first appeared as a series of "New Yorker" articles, is a record of what he saw, of his Alaska. It is a new departure for McPhee, because he permits far more of himself to come through than in his previous books...
...strength of the book, beyond its magnificent descriptions and its subtle humor, lies in McPhee's skill in presenting a broad, multi-faceted picture of Alaska today--no simple task, for Alaska is an enormous state, stretched still wider by the conflicting demands of conservationists, oil men, settlers, Indians and politicians, all of whom view each other as interferers and encrouchers. He accomplishes this portrait without the familiar posture of tepid objectivity, by adopting the point of view whoever he is with. He is, in effect, a man of every loyalty, and of no loyalty at all, achieving a rare...
...McPhee wrote "Coming Into the Country" in three sections, corresponding to different parts of Alaska and to different periods in McPhee's travels. The first section, "The Encircled River," is a more-or-less random introduction to Alaska, involving the reader in a trip through a circular system of rivers with McPhee and a four-member conservation study team. There is considerable talk about grizzlies, and whether or not one should carry a gun to avoid being eaten. The consensus is no. Guns are an unnecessary intrusion, bears rarely attack people in the wilderness anyway...
...small town that has housed such notable transients as Albert Einstein and Svetlana Alliluyeva, McPhee is an oddity: a celebrated Princeton native. "I wouldn't stay here if my work didn't take me away for such extended periods," he says. "This place is my fixed foot." A staff writer at The New Yorker ("The job translates as 'unsalaried freelance'") since 1965, McPhee enjoys a freedom from deadlines that would tempt most journalists into sloth and several other deadly sins. Not McPhee. Reporting completed and notes arranged, he marches into a routine now familiar to members...
...McPhee brushes off suggestions that such dedication is exemplary. "I've got discipline because I've got nowhere else to go," he says. "I elected to be a writer, and now that I'm 46 it is simply what I do." In his work habits and careful craftsmanship, though, McPhee resembles the outdoor loners, the cerebral athletes, the prickly eccentrics who regularly pop up in his books. "I don't consciously seek out subjects for their expertise," he says. "But people who are experts at something put a lot of effort into becoming experts...