Northern Journey: A Report from the Frontier is a new book from Northern Light Media by award-winning author Lew Freedman. A familiar name to most Alaskan readers, the long-time journalist and author has written more than 100 books, and he has received more than 300 journalism awards for his wide-ranging books and articles on everything from mountaineering to hockey, from rodeo to stock car racing, and from the history of baseball to long-distance sled dog races.

Now Lew has written a memoir of his northern travels, his adventures, his hits and his near-misses, and the infamous ones that got away on Alaska’s Kenai River. Beginning with his move to Alaska in 1984 with a wife and a young daughter, Lew became the sports editor for the Anchorage Daily News at a time when the legendary greats were racing the Iditarod, that 1,000-mile trek from Anchorage to Nome via dog team which captivates Alaskans–and much of the rest of the world–for two weeks every March. Lew wrote books about some of the sport’s greatest heroes, mushers such as George Attla, Joe Redington Sr., Dick Mackey, DeeDee Jonrowe, and Mike Williams Sr.; and he profiled dozens more in several books about the Last Great Race on Earth.

Lew also wrote books with the noted adventurer and explorer Bradford Washburn, and co-authored an autobiography with Barbara Washburn, the first woman to climb Denali (then Mount McKinley) in 1947. He wrote books about Vernon Tejas, the first man to ascend Mount McKinley alone in winter; Lowell Thomas, Jr.’s adventures around the world; the 1964 Alaska earthquake, and fishing Alaskan rivers such as the legendary Kenai, in pursuit of the great king salmon. 

In Northern Journey Lew tells the stories behind the adventures which became his award-winning books and articles, and he gives his readers an inside angle on what Alaskans do to land the Big Ones, how to survive the sub-zero temperatures, what it’s like to stand under the shimmering northern lights, and how northerners entertain themselves during the long winter nights (try ear-pulling and knuckle-hopping). He shares tales of learning the language of northerners, racing on snowshoes, facing down moose, engaging in polar bear swims, and noting that the river ice under his 5,000-pound taxi is very close to breaking up. 

Venturing further afield in the North, Lew tells of adventures to Greenland, Iceland, the Northwest Territories, and in various provinces of Canada, leaving his readers with memorable descriptions of each place and the people who live there. 

Northern Journey

In Northern Journey Lew Freedman tells the stories behind the adventures which became his award-winning books and articles. 238 pages, 6″ x 9″ format, more than two dozen b/w photos. $24.95 plus $4.50 shipping. Available from Northern Light Media, Amazon, or via any bookstore with ISBN no. 9798373238281.

$29.45