The Young Alaskans

Hough, Emerson, 1857-1923Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 321K words
Chapters: 33

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Young Alaskans by Emerson HoughAuthor: Hough, Emerson, 1857-1923,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: May 16, 2008

Editor's review

The Young Alaskans is a young-adult novel by the American writer Emerson Hough (1857–1923), classified as juvenile literature and circulated as an English-language eBook through Project Gutenberg. Hough was known for Western and frontier fiction, and here he sets the adventure in Alaska, continuing the tradition of coming-of-age and wilderness-survival narratives. Its readability comes from clear geographical description and the action line of its young protagonists, making it a useful window onto the style of early twentieth-century American juvenile adventure fiction. Note that such works bear clear marks of their era: their treatment of Indigenous peoples and natural resources reflects the dominant attitudes of the time, and today's readers should read with a critical eye. As a public-domain eBook it is easy to obtain and moderate in length, suitable as extensive reading material in English or as a supplementary text in courses on juvenile literature, and also suitable for parents and children to read together and then discuss the differences between eras.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate to advanced English learners practicing extensive reading
Readers interested in Alaskan frontier settings and adventure fiction
Teachers and students studying early twentieth-century American juvenile literature
Parents who want to read with their children and discuss the attitudes of the era

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer modern, pluralistic perspectives and contemporary values
Beginning English learners who cannot yet read long original texts independently
Academic readers seeking detailed author biography and bibliographic dating

Reading tips

Read chapter by chapter and, after each, retell the young characters' route of action in your own words to practice English summarizing.
Keep a simple map of Alaska at hand and mark the story's locations as you read to strengthen spatial sense.
Annotate passages that reflect the prejudices of the era and discuss them together after finishing rather than skipping them.
Compare with the same author's Western fiction to observe the shared structure of his adventure narratives.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What English level is this book suitable for?

As an early twentieth-century English juvenile novel, its sentences and vocabulary are generally not very difficult, though it contains some period expressions and place names. Intermediate readers and above should try it; beginners might start with a simplified edition or work through it chapter by chapter with a dictionary.

Is the story based on real events?

The given material identifies it only as a juvenile novel and does not state that it is based on real events. Readers should treat it as a fictional adventure story; those interested in Alaskan history should consult reliable historical sources rather than taking the plot as fact.

Does the Gutenberg edition include notes or an introduction?

Public-domain eBooks released by Project Gutenberg generally preserve the original text and usually contain no modern editor's notes, introduction, or chronology. For coursework or research, pair it with a scholarly edition or supplement the background material yourself.

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About the author

Hough, Emerson, 1857-1923 Author

Emerson Hough (1857-1923) was an American writer whose biographical details remain limited in publicly available sources. The collection here includes 26 of his works, most of them novels and historical narratives set against the backdrop of the American frontier. Representative titles include The Passing of the Frontier: A Chronicle of the Old West, The Covered Wagon, and The Story of the Outlaw: A Study of the Western Desperado. His subjects center on westward expansion, Western outlaws, and historical episodes such as the Mississippi Bubble, as well as life in the West. His writing blends fiction with documentary observation, combining authentic historical atmosphere with adventure plots in a plain yet vivid style. His works offer readable and lively portraits of America's westward development and hold a place in Western-themed literature.