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182 Western American Literature Ms. Richter says of her father, “He used insecurity as a whip to force himself to do better work or at least to sustain its quality.” Be that as it may, his work did eventually receive both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. A scholar and writer herself, Ms. Richter has the admirable ability to know which details to include in the text and which to include in the informa­ tive notes and appendices. Writing to Survive successfully combines scholarly objectivity with intimate knowledge of the subject. The result isa smooth blend of history, biography, and literary advice, which provides a fascinating glimpse into not only a writer’s life but his mind and heart as well. CHARLES L. ADAMS University of Nevada, Las Vegas Journal of an Aleutian Year. By Ethel Ross Oliver. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1988. 284 pages, $25.00/$12.95.) The western Aleutian Islands were the only place in the United States occupied by the Japanese during World War II. Atka isa small village on one of the islands, located in the north Pacific Ocean midway between the Alaska mainland and the Kamchatka Peninsula. Its residents watched their village being destroyed before they were evacuated to other places in Alaska. After the war, they returned to the shell of the place they once called home. Under the auspices of the Alaska Native Service, Ethel Ross Oliver and her husband, Simeon, went to Atka in 1946-47 to help the Atkans rebuild their community. According to their job titles, the Olivers were teachers, but their involvement with the 86 people of the village took on a much broader scope. Thanks to this book, we have first-hand accounts of what life was once like in this unique place and culture. Stylistically, there isnothing particularly notable about Ethel Ross Oliver’s journals. What makes them memorable are the Aleut people and Mrs. Oliver’s warmth and openness toward them. Her day-to-day accounts sustain the reader’s interest by their ingenuousness. We share the villagers’excitement of a reindeer hunt, their anticipation of the arrival of the next ship bringing supplies, and their enjoyment of community dances or late night trips togather clams and sea eggs under a full moon. We are let in on their amusing stories about themselves at the same time that we participate in their concerns for the welfare of the community as a whole. This journal is significant for its documentation of an indigenous culture in transition aswell as for the understanding it demonstrates ispossiblebetween people of differing backgrounds. At a time when Alaska Native cultures are struggling to maintain their identity, this book offers the lay person a chance to consider why that struggle is such an important one—not only to the Aleut people, but to those of us who might learn from them. CAROLYN SERVID Sitka, Alaska ...

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