Alaska History

Alaska’s Hidden Wars tells the story of the war in the North Pacific—a story of savage weather, isolation, and sacrifice.

Two island chains—the Aleutians and the Kuriles—became the focus of a series of major campaigns that pitted the Americans against the Japanese. Alaska’s Hidden Wars chronicles the role of Japanese-American intelligence specialists and reveals a Japanese eyewitness account of the defense of Attu. Two virtually unknown aspects of the North Pacific war are also exposed: the brutal North Pacific weather and the imprisonment of American airmen in Kamchatka.

In 1942, the Japanese raided Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands and occupied the islands of Kiska and Attu. The Americans mounted a vigorous campaign, and the Japanese retreated to the Kuriles. For the next two years, the Americans launched air raids and fleet bombardments, while American soldiers maintained lonely outposts along Aleutian coasts. But in 1945, when Japan finally surrendered, the Kuriles were taken—not by the waiting Americans, but by the Soviets.

The history of Alaska is filled with stories of new land and new riches -- and ever present are new people with competing views over how these resources should be used: Russians exploiting a fur empire; explorers checking rival advances; prospectors stampeding to the clarion call of "Gold!"; soldiers battling out a decisive chapter in world war; oil wildcatters looking for a different kind of mineral wealth; and always at the core of these disputes is the question of how the land is to be used and by whom.

Major themes include Alaska Natives, exploration and mountaineering, mining rushes, railroads and aviation, military operations, and the conflict pitting conservation against development, with a spotlight on the current debate over oil drilling in ANWR.

Some want Alaska to remain static, others are in the vanguard of change. Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land shows that there are no easy answers on either side and that Alaska will always be crossing the next frontier.

• ISBN13: 9780738571324
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

• ISBN13: 9780295989266
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

The 97th Army Corps Engineers, an African American unit, worked extensively on completing the Alaska/ Canadian Highway, but the corps' substantial role in this project to defend North America from Japanese attack during World War II has received only scant attention. The Discovery Channel's recent television show about the Alcan Highway offered only brief mention of this unit's contribution.

With this book William E. Griggs, the official photographer for the battalion, amends the long-neglected history. Documenting the record of its service, he took almost a thousand photographs as the 97th traveled from Fort Elgin, Florida, to Seattle and then to Port Valdez and into the interior of Alaska. Published here for the first time are more than a hundred of Griggs's black-and-white photographic images, along with captions he has written to explain the official work of the 97th. Showing members in social and camp life and in road construction and arranged in chronological sequence, the photographs are a record of the previously unproclaimed service these African Americans gave to the defense of their country.

"This compelling collection of photographs," says historian Douglas Brinkley, whose introductory essay places Griggs and his work in historical context, "provides us the only visual documentation of which I am aware of the 97th's role. . . . Moreover, considering the scant availability of documents--visual or otherwise--pertaining to the 97th's unheralded contribution to the highway's creation, this collection of photographs really is a remarkable find."

William E. Griggs (b. 1918) lives in Baltimore. He remains an avid photographer.

Philip J. Merrill, a regular on PBS's Antiques Roadshow, is a leading authority on African American memorabilia and cultural artifacts.