This travel guide, published by Fodor's, was a purchase I made at the VNSA book sale in Phoenix a few months ago. We'll be doing an Alaskan cruise this summer and this book is about the exact area we'll be visiting. I have avoided buying other books on the subject because I know they'll be out of date quickly; since this came out in 2006, I knew that would be an issue as well, but it was also 25-cents with the money going to charity.

I've already done a lot of online research on ports like Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway. What I really wanted was a different perspective--a bit of history, maybe some insight into a place I'd gloss over when I skimmed a web page, but might like if I knew more about it. This book accomplished that. One of the advantages is that the author, Ann Chandonnet, is a local; most online material is by tourists. The narrative is highly readable, gentle and intelligent all at once. I appreciated her emphasis on buying native art. The history sections were especially nice, brief as they were. And the photography--wow. Don Pitcher's work is worthy of wall prints. He really captured the majesty of the state.

Towards the back is where the publishing date became more of an issue. There's a section on recommended restaurants and shops. I Googled a number of the restaurants and found many were closed. This is not a fault of the book; I knew that I was buying an older edition.

In all, a nice supplement to online research. ( )