Haycon, Stephen. Frigid Embrace: Politics, Economics, and Environment in Alaska. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2002.
Since the arrival of white settlers, Alaska has been dependent on the development of successive natural resources—fur, then gold, salmon, copper, timber, and now oil. In Frigid Embrace, Stephen Haycox explores how the drive to extract natural resources has shaped Alaskans’ understanding of nature and their relationships with the region’s Native people. […] Frigid Embrace offers a revealing look at the social and political impact of Alaska’s economic dependence, with chapters devoted to milestones such as the discovery of the Prudhoe Bay oil field and the Exxon Valdez debacle. It presents for a wide audience a compelling account of Alaska’s colonial struggles and offers a key to understanding the historical roots of current environmental controversies. — Oregon State University Press website.