Publisher's Synopsis
Seventeen Years in Alaska is Johnson's eyewitness account of this tumultuous time. It is a captivating narrative of an ancient people facing rapid change and of the missionaries working to stem a corrupting tide. His journals offer a candid look at the beliefs and lives of missionaries, and they ultimately reveal the profound effect that he and other missionaries had on the Tlingit. Tracing nearly two decades of spiritual hopes and earthbound failures, Johnson's memoir is a fascinating portrait of a rapidly changing world in one of the most far-flung areas of the globe.