Alaska: A Scenic Discovery.Alaska: A Scenic Discovery, Photography by Clyde H. Smith. Foremost Publishers, Inc. Distributed by Yankee Publishing, Inc., Dublin, NH, 03444 1988). Large format, hardcover, 128 pp., $35. Clyde Smith Clyde Harold Smith (June 9, 1876 - April 8, 1940) was a United States Representative from Maine. Born on a farm near Harmony, Maine, he moved with his parents to Hartland, Maine in 1891. He attended the rural schools and Hartland Academy, and taught school. isn't one to waste words-even about spectacular Alaska. His preface to this book is only two pages of large type, and it mostly acknowledges a cat named Smitten and all the folks who helped him get this coffeetable book off the press. But Clyde doesn't need words. He speaks with his camera, and this collection of photographs-reproduced on heavy white paper of the kind I wish we could use in this magazine-are an eloquent essay about the people, wildlife, and matchless scenery of The Great Land. These photos elicit mood and attitude, season and silence, great vastnesses and eternal truths. Shots I found particularly memorable capture a floatplane floatplane: see seaplane. against the vertical mountain faces enveloping en·vel·op tr.v. en·vel·oped, en·vel·op·ing, en·vel·ops 1. To enclose or encase completely with or as if with a covering: "Accompanying the darkness, a stillness envelops the city" Terror Bay; a brown bear shoulder-deep in a reedrimmed cove, his attention rivetted on something near the photographer; an Iditarod musher mush 1 n. 1. A thick porridge or pudding of cornmeal boiled in water or milk. 2. Something thick, soft, and pulpy. 3. Informal Mawkish sentimentality, affection, or amorousness. tr.v. , his beard decorated with ice drops; and a whale saluting with its tail flukes in Resolution Bay. Alaskamagazine editor Ron Dalby starts his introduction with a quote from Henry Gannett Henry Gannett, M.E.; LL.D. (1846-1914) was an American geographer. He was born in Bath, Me., graduated at Harvard in 1869 and at the Hooper Mining School in 1870. He was geographer of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth censuses of the United States, and assistant director of the of the U.S. Geological Survey The term geological survey can be used to describe both the conduct of a survey for geological purposes and an institution holding geological information. A geological survey : "If you are old, go by all means; but if you are young, wait ... It is not well to dull one's capacity for enjoyment by seeing the finest first." Whatever your age, this book will speak to you about a peerless land.BILL ROONEY |
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