- Hardcover: 312 pages
- Publisher: Doubleday Canada; 1st Edition edition (Sep 23 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0385659040
- ISBN-13: 978-0385659048
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.2 x 3.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 640 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#677,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #71 in Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Gender Studies > Women in History
- #71 in Books > Nonfiction > Women's Studies > History
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“Duncan’s passion for her subject matter makes for a fascinating read.”
—Edmonton Journal
“Duncan’s skill as a writer of fiction . . . shines through the whole book, imbuing the story with compelling immediacy. . . . Her appreciation of the women who have lived there — past and present — and the environment they endure is infectious.”
—National Post
“This engrossing portrait provides a fresh way to fall under the Yukon’s spell. . . . Duncan’s photo-illustrated tales . . . are irreverent, boisterous and engaging, a find for those who love adventure.”
—The Hamilton Spectator
“Captivating . . . . This is the wonder of Duncan’s book: the way she weaves each of her characters in and out of the lives of others. . . . Duncan handles these correspondences with the right touch. How rare these days to find a work of non-fiction that’s interesting for its technique without actually showing off.”
—The Vancouver Sun
From the Trade Paperback edition.
—Edmonton Journal
“Duncan’s skill as a writer of fiction . . . shines through the whole book, imbuing the story with compelling immediacy. . . . Her appreciation of the women who have lived there — past and present — and the environment they endure is infectious.”
—National Post
“This engrossing portrait provides a fresh way to fall under the Yukon’s spell. . . . Duncan’s photo-illustrated tales . . . are irreverent, boisterous and engaging, a find for those who love adventure.”
—The Hamilton Spectator
“Captivating . . . . This is the wonder of Duncan’s book: the way she weaves each of her characters in and out of the lives of others. . . . Duncan handles these correspondences with the right touch. How rare these days to find a work of non-fiction that’s interesting for its technique without actually showing off.”
—The Vancouver Sun
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Book Description
She may have been holding a gun, or an axe, or her hiked-up skirts, but she was there, in the Klondike of the Gold Rush. And her decision to venture everything on the dream of northern gold was in every way bolder and riskier than any man’s.
In Frontier Spirit, Jennifer Duncan celebrates the lives of women who, in defiance of traditional expectations, left their homes, their families, and their professions, to make the arduous journey through a punishing climate and unfamiliar wilderness to seek their fortunes in the Klondike.
The story of women in the Klondike begins with the strong and knowledgeable women who were there before the race for riches began -- First Nations women like Shaaw Tláa, whose experience and traditional skills were critical to the survival of her white prospector husband, and ultimately, to the discovery that sparked the Gold Rush. The white women who joined the Klondike Stampede came from all walks of life: rich and poor, educated and illiterate, single and married. Wealthy socialite Martha Black left her world of comfort to pursue a career as a miner, mill manager, and politician on the northern frontier. Belinda Mulrooney, an Irish farm girl, arrived in Dawson with a quarter to her name but used her business acumen and canny resourcefulness to turn the shantytown into a city and herself into its richest woman. And then there’s Kate Rockwell, a working-class girl from Kansas City, whose thirst for fame and adulation led her over the treacherous waters of the Whitehorse rapids and fired her ascent to the title of Queen of the Klondike.
Duncan has spent the last five years experiencing Dawson City in all its seasons and, like the women who came before her, she has fallen under the spell of the North, coming to love its wilderness, its challenges, and its rugged glory. With remarkable empathy, imagination and personal insight, Duncan creates an engrossing portrait of the splendour of the Yukon, breathing life into the stories of the daring and diverse women of the Klondike and the grandeur of the adventurers who gambled everything to find their fortunes there.
In Frontier Spirit, Jennifer Duncan celebrates the lives of women who, in defiance of traditional expectations, left their homes, their families, and their professions, to make the arduous journey through a punishing climate and unfamiliar wilderness to seek their fortunes in the Klondike.
The story of women in the Klondike begins with the strong and knowledgeable women who were there before the race for riches began -- First Nations women like Shaaw Tláa, whose experience and traditional skills were critical to the survival of her white prospector husband, and ultimately, to the discovery that sparked the Gold Rush. The white women who joined the Klondike Stampede came from all walks of life: rich and poor, educated and illiterate, single and married. Wealthy socialite Martha Black left her world of comfort to pursue a career as a miner, mill manager, and politician on the northern frontier. Belinda Mulrooney, an Irish farm girl, arrived in Dawson with a quarter to her name but used her business acumen and canny resourcefulness to turn the shantytown into a city and herself into its richest woman. And then there’s Kate Rockwell, a working-class girl from Kansas City, whose thirst for fame and adulation led her over the treacherous waters of the Whitehorse rapids and fired her ascent to the title of Queen of the Klondike.
Duncan has spent the last five years experiencing Dawson City in all its seasons and, like the women who came before her, she has fallen under the spell of the North, coming to love its wilderness, its challenges, and its rugged glory. With remarkable empathy, imagination and personal insight, Duncan creates an engrossing portrait of the splendour of the Yukon, breathing life into the stories of the daring and diverse women of the Klondike and the grandeur of the adventurers who gambled everything to find their fortunes there.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good research, immature writing,
By
This review is from: Frontier Spirit: The Brave Women of the Klondike (Hardcover)
This is a well researched book that presents in fascinating detail the lives of women who have lived in the Klondike, mostly during the days of the gold rush. The writer starts with the present time, providing a grounding and frame of reference by describing her own experiences while visiting the Klondike. She also concludes the book in the present wrapping the book up neatly with a chapter about a few of the well-known women living in the Klondike today. She takes care to include First Nations women throughout.But the min body of the book deals with eight of the best known female characters of the Klondike gold rush, the role each of them played and the hardships they endured. It makes compelling reading; the writer has an eye for detail and she has given a voice to these and to all the other women who faced the hardships of the north with as much strength and courage as the men. As long as she is dealing with fact, the writer presents her material clearly and vividly. The problems arise when she drifts off into some fictional world that borders occasionally on the poetic and is inappropriate in this context. Another distraction for the reader is her 21st century interpretations of mostly 19th century theme. The worst distraction is that she seems to have been seduced into copying the flowery Victorian style of writing she encountered in her research. Why else would she write of a couple sharing "frolicksome laughter"? This reader practically gagged on that one. But if you skip the overwrought fiction this is a well researched and very interesting read. Many of us are inspired by reading the lives of strong women and this is an important contribution to that literature.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good research, immature writing,
By
This review is from: Frontier Spirit: The Brave Women of the Klondike (Hardcover)
This is a well researched book that presents in fascinating detail the lives of women who have lived in the Klondike, mostly during the days of the gold rush. The writer starts with the present time, providing a grounding and frame of reference by describing her own experiences while visiting the Klondike. She also concludes the book in the present wrapping the book up neatly with a chapter about a few of the well-known women living in the Klondike today. She takes care to include First Nations women throughout.But the min body of the book deals with eight of the best known female characters of the Klondike gold rush, the role each of them played and the hardships they endured. It makes compelling reading; the writer has an eye for detail and she has given a voice to these and to all the other women who faced the hardships of the north with as much strength and courage as the men. As long as she is dealing with fact, the writer presents her material clearly and vividly. The problems arise when she drifts off into some fictional world that borders occasionally on the poetic and is inappropriate in this context. Another distraction for the reader is her 21st century interpretations of mostly 19th century theme. The worst distraction is that she seems to have been seduced into copying the flowery Victorian style of writing she encountered in her research. Why else would she write of a couple sharing "frolicksome laughter"? This reader practically gagged on that one. But if you skip the overwrought fiction this is a well researched and very interesting read. Many of us are inspired by reading the lives of strong women and this is an important contribution to that literature.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good research, immature writing,
By Valerie Adolph "Coast Journal" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Frontier Spirit: The Brave Women of the Klondike (Hardcover)
This is a well researched book that presents in fascinating detail the lives of women who have lived in the Klondike, mostly during the days of the gold rush. The writer starts with the present time, providing a grounding and frame of reference by describing her own experiences while visiting the Klondike. She also concludes the book in the present wrapping the book up neatly with a chapter about a few of the well-known women living in the Klondike today. She takes care to include First Nations women throughout.But the min body of the book deals with eight of the best known female characters of the Klondike gold rush, the role each of them played and the hardships they endured. It makes compelling reading; the writer has an eye for detail and she has given a voice to these and to all the other women who faced the hardships of the north with as much strength and courage as the men. As long as she is dealing with fact, the writer presents her material clearly and vividly. The problems arise when she drifts off into some fictional world that borders occasionally on the poetic and is inappropriate in this context. Another distraction for the reader is her 21st century interpretations of mostly 19th century theme. The worst distraction is that she seems to have been seduced into copying the flowery Victorian style of writing she encountered in her research. Why else would she write of a couple sharing "frolicksome laughter"? This reader practically gagged on that one. But if you skip the overwrought fiction this is a well researched and very interesting read. Many of us are inspired by reading the lives of strong women and this is an important contribution to that literature.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good research, immature writing,
By Valerie Adolph "Coast Journal" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Frontier Spirit: The Brave Women of the Klondike (Hardcover)
This is a well researched book that presents in fascinating detail the lives of women who have lived in the Klondike, mostly during the days of the gold rush. The writer starts with the present time, providing a grounding and frame of reference by describing her own experiences while visiting the Klondike. She also concludes the book in the present wrapping the book up neatly with a chapter about a few of the well-known women living in the Klondike today. She takes care to include First Nations women throughout.But the min body of the book deals with eight of the best known female characters of the Klondike gold rush, the role each of them played and the hardships they endured. It makes compelling reading; the writer has an eye for detail and she has given a voice to these and to all the other women who faced the hardships of the north with as much strength and courage as the men. As long as she is dealing with fact, the writer presents her material clearly and vividly. The problems arise when she drifts off into some fictional world that borders occasionally on the poetic and is inappropriate in this context. Another distraction for the reader is her 21st century interpretations of mostly 19th century theme. The worst distraction is that she seems to have been seduced into copying the flowery Victorian style of writing she encountered in her research. Why else would she write of a couple sharing "frolicksome laughter"? This reader practically gagged on that one. But if you skip the overwrought fiction this is a well researched and very interesting read. Many of us are inspired by reading the lives of strong women and this is an important contribution to that literature. |
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