The Impertinent Question by Dan O'Neill
From the introduction: There’s politics here and media criticism and slices of Alaska life — dogsled races, rodeos, trapping and hunting and fishing, and sketches of some inimitable Alaskan characters. I’ve selected the pieces for their fascination factor or humor or contemporary relevance. They frequently touch on important matters that we still struggle to clarify. So, maybe this book is a record of social examination — the political, moral, and cultural themes that we met during a particular time in our history. Or maybe it just shows the crazy doings of a crazy place. See what you think.
Praise for The Impertinent Question
“Dan’s columns for the Daily News-Miner are some of the best opinion pieces now being written anywhere…Alaska has been lucky to have had a writer of O’Neill’s integrity at work during the past several decades.”
— John Haines, Former Poet Laureate of Alaska
About the Author — Dan O'Neill
Dan O’Neill was born and raised in San Francisco, educated at U.C. Berkeley, and moved to Alaska in 1975, settling near Fairbanks. He worked construction jobs, built log cabins, hunted, fished, trapped, and ran dogs--once driving his team 800 miles to Nome. As research associate at the University of Alaska, O'Neill produced award-winning radio and television documentaries for public broadcasting. For several years, he also wrote a newspaper column of political opinion for an Alaska daily. He has three books of literary nonfiction: The Firecracker Boys (1994), The Last Giant of Beringia (2004), and A Land Gone Lonesome (2007). A nonfiction children's book, Stubborn Gal appeared in 2015, and his most recent book, The Impertinent Question: The Words & Adventures of a Liberal Columnist at a Conservative Newspaper in the Red State of Alaska, collects his newspaper columns. O'Neill has twice received the Alaska Library Association’s award for the best book on Alaska published anywhere, and the Alaska Historical Society named him Alaska Historian of the Year. In 2021, O'Neill was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks for his contributions to Alaska history and literature. He is married, has a son and three grandchildren.