Alaska\'s perch at the geographic corner of civilization isn\'t all wilderness and reality TV.
The result is a raw and startling collection of direct, ground-level reporting that will leave you deeply moved..
Her subjects struggle with poverty and middle-Class aspirations, education and minimum wage work, God and psychology.
Through her essays, we meet Alaskans who live outside the common adventurer narrative: a recent graduate of a court-sponsored sobriety program, a long-timer in the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center for women, a slum-landlord\'s emancipated teenage daughter, and even a post-rampage spree killer.
Journalist Mary Kudenov set out to find the true stories behind this end-of-the-road culture.
While it can easy to write off or even romanticize these statistics as the product of a lingering Wild West culture, talking with real Alaskans reveals a different story.
Above the 49th parallel some of the nation\'s highest rates of alcoholism, suicide, and violent Crime can be found.
There\'s a darker side too.
Alaska\'s perch at the geographic corner of civilization isn\'t all wilderness and reality TV
