Holy Land (Paperback) by Sandra L Kleven

This gritty, passionate, monolog provides a dramatic introduction to Bethel, Alaska -- the hub of the 54 village, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The speaker is a Native man, who can see into the heart of the "helper" from Outside -- while bearing his own terrors. "A writer myself, I related to this piece about Bethel, Alaska, because I lived there myself as a social worker in 1968-69 and experienced some of what is described in Holy Land. I was surprised when I read it, because I'd thought it would be poetic in the beautiful sense (crystalline imagery, geese in flight, ice) so was almost breathless when I caught the voice, the tone, the depressed, angry Yupik man educating the lower 48 newcomer, in such rough, raw, violent and absolutely tragic subjects, as well as capturing the cold, the ice and its dangers and the underpinning of guilt because we outsiders come with such good intentions and then we leave. Amazing! LOVED the shorter piece at end too, the ramps for villages and towns whose disabled would never go out in snow or mud to use them. Absolutely true--misguided government do-gooders of whom I was once one." Gretchen Brinck, MSW