Portals in a Northern Sky

Synopsis

"Query: What do these things have in common: the end of the Civil War, ""Go West young woman,"" fur trapping, missing persons, gold in the Klondike, glitter in the beaches of Nome, the Great San Francisco earthquake, murder, robbery, kidnapping, illegal drugs, racial discrimination, rogue grizzly bears, reading, the world of ideas, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Jack London's Sea Wolf, the Alaska Highway, the Yukon Territory, cops, criminals, preachers, atheists, historians, physicists, tycoons, and the greatest scientific breakthrough in the history of humanity? Answer: They are key components in Portals in a Northern sky, Wasilla, Alaska, resident Charles Doublas Hayes' first novel. Hayes is the author of five books on the value of self education. His work has been featured in USA Today, the Utne Reader, and National Public Radio's ""Talk of the Nation."