Arctic Homestead: The True Story of One Family's Survival and Courage in the Alaskan Wilds

The book is an interesting read about life in the north Alaskan wilderness, but I have mixed feelings about the book overall. It is presented as fact, but one of the people in it, Ken Nelson who lived on their homestead, has written a review (2002) that presents some of the incidents as being lies, most particularly the one involving him. I am a dog lover and in the book Ken is accused of neglecting their dogs and letting them starve and freeze to death. In his review he denies this and says all but one of them were alive and well when he left the homestead. He says the dogs were later shot and killed by Lester, the husband of the author. I have no way of knowing, of course, which is the more accurate version of events. Either is disturbing and tragic. He also presents the author in a different light regarding family values.As other reviews have noted, some of the incidents are hard to take at face value, such as Lester teaching himself to fly a plane without any instruction at all, simply getting into it and taking off after observing his pilot flying it. Throughout the book bears are described as always being aggressive and trying to attack humans, which of course isn't factual. Like most wild animals they usually avoid interaction with humans unless they feel threatened. The family shows little respect for any wildlife. Their carelessness with firearms is appalling. (I am a firearms owner.) At times the couple is presented as very astute but at other times unbelievably naive. I admire the author's declaration of her faith in God. However some of their actions don't exactly exemplify a Christian way of life, although none of us are perfect.She also goes on and on about the pristine valley but then they decimate the environment with their mining and other pursuits, while disparaging others for doing the same. Especially in the last half of the book she disparages many others including other parents with traditional lifestyles while she leaves her children for months on end. She paints with a very broad brush and it gets old.All of this dampens my enjoyment of the book overall. If it is a fictionalized version it should be presented as such. Keeping these things in mind it is still an interesting tale with vivid descriptions of the Alaskan north. I have read a couple of other books about families who moved to the Alaskan wilderness that seemed more realistic imo.According to info found through google, they later divorced and she moved to Sedona, Arizona, apparently keeping five acres of the homestead and a small cabin. Health issues later prevented her from visiting. The author's page on The Alaska Writers Directory has the book described as historical fiction, fwiw.

Great stories of living in Seward's Ice Box as it was famously called. As chechacoes to this last HOMESTEADING allowed under the Act the adventures come nonstop and so exciting. One wants to keep reading to see what this family will experience next. One's never disappointed with the next adventure which makes for great reading. Well written and knucklebiting at many turns will amaze the reader who will find the story fascinating and most of all true to the times.

This was a real page-turner. I couldn't wait to read more of the adventures, that go bad, and then get better. The losses were many, however, they kept the Pioneer spirit.The ending with the rape of the land was sad. Reading this book reminded me of my grandparents, they lived on a mountain with very few modern convinces.

I rate this one of the TOP THREE BOOJS I have read in over a year! Better written than many books, and the level of detail really helps you understand what they lived through. What an incredible story and journey!

Fascinating true story of trying to survive everything Alaska can throw at this family. I am inspired by their courage and industry.

True life adventure story! Great read!

loved the theme & descriptions of how they built and accomplished so much; way too many political and religious comments.

I read this book and praise the Norma Cobb and her family for the grit it took to live in Alaska in extreme conditions. This book is mostly a a good read about a family who struggled and worked so hard to build a life in the far north. However there were a few things the author wrote that I could not swallow as truth. The story of the attack by the bear and the men having to craw up a 'rocky point' to avoid getting mauled or killed and her stories about most every grizzly bear being on the attack etc did not seem believable.I know grizzly bears are dangerous but form her stores she made it seem like as soon as you saw one, they were coming after you, which in the real world is exactly opposite, most of the time grizzly bears will run away. When you start reading things in a book that don't add up, you soon start to wonder how much else of the story was true. The author did have many interesting stores, but there were other times when she talked about people, you wondered what would they say if they could tell their side of the story because in her story her family was always right and the other people were not especially when you read about dynamite used to blow houses up etc that don't add up.

Enjoyable

Inspiring yet realistic account of life in Alaska. I could only wish the book had at least 1000 pages - I wanted to read more!

What a great book! Alaskan survival and family life as seen by the woman of the family. By which I mean the intricate details men usually write into their survival books are here replaced with a more general viewpoint and it's much much easier to read as a result. I'd love to have Les's version as he sounds like a guy with plenty to say! Very very enjoyable

What a story, it had me gripped from the start, an easy read and it is amazing they made it do their destination, what determination and utter courage to do what needed doing, it would have had many of us turn around and head in the other direction just dealing with what they had to deal with just in getting there!I have bought this as a gift and recommend it totally.

very good product as described and delivered very promptly