Called to the wild

THE SEAPLANE ON FINAL APPROACH, by Rebecca Rukeyser (Granta, $32.99)

or many Americans, Alaska remains the final frontier, with its torrid, cruel seasons, its vast, unnavigable wilderness and its promise of death-defying adventure. For many of my peers in the US, Alaska was the preferred destination for their postgraduate overseas experience. Trading their backpacks, textbooks and boat shoes for fishermen’s