Aunt Phil's Trunk

The critically acclaimed "Aunt Phil's Trunk" Alaska history series by Laurel Downing Bill is noted for its easy-to-read short stories and hundreds of historical photographs that complement the entertaining nonfiction writing. Suitable for ages 9 to 99, the first book in the series shares stories from early Alaska up to about 1900. Volume 1 kicks off the series by showcasing the arrival of Alaska Natives thousands of years ago. Anthropologists believe the Natives traveled from Asia across the Bering Sea Land Bridge and settled in various parts of Alaska. Stories in this section include those of mighty shaman, mysterious petroglyphs and fierce battles against Russian fur traders, who arrived in the mid-1700s. After Alaska became a possession of the United States in 1867, Americans began streaming into the Last Frontier. Explorers, businessmen, miners and crooks came north and changed Alaska forever. The discovery of gold brought even more people. This book highlights the gold rushes of Juneau-Douglas, Cook Inlet and the famous Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. A photo essay of the various routes the gold-crazed stampeders forged to get to the gold fields is truly amazing. Other stories in this volume include how Catholic nuns mingled with rough-and-tumble adventurers on the banks of Nome, how the last shot of the Civil War boomed in the Bering Sea and how infamous conman Soapy Smith served as an angel of mercy before he became the undisputed king of crime in Skagway. This volume is a treasure trove of short stories about Alaska's colorful past and is filled with close to 350 rare historical photographs!

The "Aunt Phil's Trunk" Alaska history series is taking Alaska by storm. This critically acclaimed four-book series written by Laurel Downing Bill is a must-have for anyone interested in the history of the Last Frontier. The books, which are appropriate for ages 9 to 99, are a delightful journey through Alaska's rich past. "Aunt Phil's Trunk Volume Two," which shares Alaska's past from 1900 to 1912, continues to bring Alaska's history alive. This second book in the series is packed with easy-to-read short stories and close to 350 historical photographs to entertain the history buff within. Through vivid accounts of Alaska's gold-rush days of the 1890s, readers learn how early settlers in the northern territory built towns like Fairbanks, Cordova and Seward in the vast wilderness. The stories follow vaudeville actors who entertained gold-laden miners, show how railroad workers settled right of way disputes with shotguns and how those living in Southwest Alaska survived terror filled days following a massive volcanic eruption in 1912. Volume Two also features stories about Alaska's early lawmen, as well as the criminals they pursued. Sometimes the lawmen were the criminals! Even the infamous U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp made his way to the Last Frontier and built a bar in Nome around 1901. Other entertaining nonfiction stories in this volume include those of the pioneering postmen who hacked out mail routes in the wilderness, rugged adventurers who challenged the Great Land's highest peaks and the brave men who blazed the Iditarod Trail. It ends with the largest volcanic eruption in North American history in 1912, which resulted in the formation of the Valley of 10,000 Smokes. Anyone interested in Alaska history will love this easy-to-read treasure trove of short nonfiction stories.

The "Aunt Phil's Trunk" Alaska history series is taking Alaska by storm. This critically acclaimed four-book series written by Laurel Downing Bill is a must-have for anyone interested in the history of the Last Frontier. The books, which are appropriate for ages 9 to 99, are a delightful journey through Alaska's rich past. "Aunt Phil's Trunk Volume Three" entertains readers as they travel through Alaska's history from 1912 to 1935. This book of nonfiction short stories highlights the pioneering spirit of early Alaskans as they enter a new era as a territory of the United States. As with the first two books, Volume Three is filled with close to 350 historical photographs. Downing Bill weaves page-turning narratives. Readers follow along as men with axes, hammers and mauls pound a path through the vast Alaska wilderness to lay railroad tracks that connect the deep-water port of Seward in the south to the territory's interior town of Fairbanks in the north. Through the stories in this volume, readers watch a railroad construction town grow out of the tundra to become Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska. Volume Three also shares stories about epidemics and disasters, including the Great Sickness of 1918, the sinking of the steamship Princess Sophia in Southeast Alaska and the incredible diphtheria serum run in 1925 when brave mushers and their tenacious dogs saved the town of Nome from certain death. This book shines a light on early aviators who blazed new trails through Alaska skies, how the Alaska Native people struggled for recognition and how farmers from America's Midwest carved out an agricultural community in the wild Matanuska Valley. It ends with the fatal airplane crash of humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post near Barrow in 1935. This easy-to-read volume is a true Alaska treasure trove of short nonfiction stories.

Author Laurel Downing Bill continues to bring Alaska history alive in "Aunt Phil's Trunk Volume Four." Following in the fast-paced and entertaining footsteps of the previous three volumes, Volume Four captures the essence of life in Alaska between 1935 and 1960. It's easy-to-read nonfiction short stories and more-than 350 historical photographs highlight major events of World War II, the Cold War era and Alaska's struggle for statehood. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the military presence in Alaska was woefully inadequate. And within six months, the Japanese bombed Alaska's Dutch Harbor, occupied two islands in the Aleutian Chain and had eyes toward an invasion of America. As the U.S. military began building bases across Alaska, it also organized Alaska's Native people into a territorial guard that became known as the "Eskimo Scouts." These men and women routinely patrolled more than 2,000 miles of coastline and 200,000 square miles of tundra to make sure the enemy did not advance. World War II brought big defense dollars north, which helped bolster Alaska's economy. It also brought a secret Russian mission to Fairbanks, interment of Aleut people in the foreign landscape of Southeast Alaska and a wide proliferation of tuberculosis. During the Cold War era, Alaska saw another increase of money and people into the Last Frontier. This period of its colorful past also generated stories of heroic Alaska Airlines flights for freedom, Alaska Natives' battles against discrimination and the blossoming of Anchorage into a jewel on the tundra. The last section of this action-packed volume features Alaska's 91-year-old struggle for statehood. Tales of tenacity, hope and determination fill these pages. They also showcase many of the movers and shakers of days gone by, Alaska's first elected governor and the discovery of crude oil that tipped the balance toward statehood. Critics and readers alike are saying "Aunt Phil's Trunk" is outstandingly well produced, exceptionally informative and heaps of fun to read.

This fifth book in the Aunt Phil's Trunk Alaska history series features dozens of short stories and hundreds of historical photographs that share Alaska's past from 1960 to 1984. This volume the highlights the first 25 years of statehood when the optimistic citizens of the Great Land created a government from scratch in just a few years and dealt with many challenges. Aunt Phil's Trunk Volume Five shares firsthand accounts of survivors who experienced the 1964 Good Friday earthquake and the devastating tsunamis that followed that 9.2 temblor. It also features stories about the discovery of black gold on the North Slope in the late 1960s, and how Alaska's Native people fought for their land and won the largest settlement ever granted Native Americans. That agreement cleared the way for oil companies to build an 800-mile pipeline through some of the most rugged and remote country in the world during the 1970s. Alaskans also learned that evil lurked under the midnight sun in the 1980s, as they ended the first 25 years of statehood with six mass murders.

Aunt Phil's Trunk Volume Five features dozens of short stories and hundreds of historical photographs that share the history of Alaska from 1960 to 1984. This fifth book in the Alaska history series highlights the first 25 years of statehood when the optimistic citizens of the Great Land created a government from scratch in just a few years and dealt with many challenges. Aunt Phil s Trunk Volume Five shares firsthand accounts of survivors who experienced the 1964 Good Friday earthquake and the devastating tsunamis that followed that 9.2 temblor. It also features stories about the discovery of black gold on the North Slope in the late 1960s, and how Alaska s Native people fought for their land and won the largest settlement ever granted Native Americans. That agreement cleared the way for oil companies to build an 800-mile pipeline through some of the most rugged and remote country in the world during the 1970s.