Looking for Alaska - by Peter Jenkins (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

More than twenty years ago, a disillusioned college graduate named Peter Jenkins set out with his dog Cooper to look for himself and his nation. His memoir of what he found, A Walk Across America, captured the hearts of millions of Americans.

Now, Peter is a bit older, married with a family, and his journeys are different than they were. Perhaps he is looking for adventure, perhaps inspiration, perhaps new communities, perhaps unspoiled land. Certainly, he found all of this and more in Alaska, America's last wilderness.

Looking for Alaska is Peter's account of eighteen months spent traveling over twenty thousand miles in tiny bush planes, on snow machines and snowshoes, in fishing boats and kayaks, on the Alaska Marine Highway and the Haul Road, searching for what defines Alaska. Hearing the amazing stories of many real Alaskans--from Barrow to Craig, Seward to Deering, and everywhere in between--Peter gets to know this place in the way that only he can. His resulting portrait is a rare and unforgettable depiction of a dangerous and beautiful land and all the people that call it home.

He also took his wife and eight-year-old daughter with him, settling into a "home base" in Seward on the Kenai Peninsula, coming and going from there, and hosting the rest of their family for extended visits. The way his family lived, how they made Alaska their home and even participated in Peter's explorations, is as much a part of this story as Peter's own travels.

All in all, Jenkins delivers a warm, funny, awe-inspiring, and memorable diary of discovery-both of this place that captures all of our imaginations, and of himself, all over again.

Review Quotes

"Mr. Jenkins has a winning style, and an unmatched willingness to engage with strangers." --The New York Times

"Reading Jenkins' book is the next best thing to having actually walked along beside him." --Associated Press

"People like Peter Jenkins. They open up to him and sooner or later, they tell him their tales." --Los Angeles Times

"Peter Jenkins does what the rest of us never get past dreaming about." --Birmingham News

"If anyone can feel the pulse of America, it is Peter Jenkins." --The Knoxville News-Sentinel

About the Author

Peter Jenkins' 1979 written chronicle and photographs of his first journey, A Walk Across America, spent three months on The New York Times bestseller list. Jenkins has written several more chronicles of his travels, including The New York Times bestsellers The Walk West and Across China, and Along the Edge of America and Close Friends. Born in Greenwich, Connecticut, he now lives on a farm in Spring Hill, Tennessee, with his wife, Rita, and their family.