"Purvis and the staff at the University of Nebraska Press deserve a great deal of credit for publishing this book, as Ragged Coast, Rugged Coves is a useful reminder of the remarkable history in this important part of the North American West. This book is a substantial contribution to western labor and social history. It will make a strong addition to university library holdings and I encourage instructors teaching upper-division or graduate courses in western and labor history to consider assigning this fine scholarly work."—Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
"An essential addition to historical studies of Alaska, this well-researched work explores how Alaska Natives have been conspicuously disadvantaged in the fishing industry, notably the fish cannery business. . . . Purvis (formerly, Alaska Pacific Univ.) pays close and sympathetic attention to the rising voices of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood. Attention to women's activities is refreshing and important. This well-written book is an eye-opening look into a multiethnic world hitherto imagined but insufficiently described."—B. M. Gough, Choice
“Ragged Coast, Rugged Coves demonstrates that indigenous peoples in Alaska engaged capitalism and colonialism on several levels and were not simply overwhelmed by them. Alaskan workers built alliances that had an important impact on and legacy for Southeast Alaska—a history that deserves to be remembered.”—Chris Friday, author of Organizing Asian-American Labor: The Pacific Coast Canned-Salmon Industry, 1870–1942
“Ragged Coast, Rugged Coves paints a picture of an Alaska with a racially diversified population . . . and offers a refreshing view of women in the workplace and in labor organizing. This book is really a fascinating narrative, and it fills an important niche in the history of Alaska, the fishing and canning industries in the West, and the labor movement.”—Roberta Ulrich, author of Empty Nets: Indians, Dams, and the Columbia River
