His story begins with the arrival of his father, Howard Kantner, to the remote Arctic of the 1950s and ends with him as a grown man settled in the same landscape. Through a series of moving essays and vivid photographs, ranging in subject from family histories to hunting stories, celebrations of people and places to a lament over a majestic wilderness rapidly disappearing, Shopping for Porcupine provides a compelling, intimate view of America’s last frontier — the same place that captivated so many readers of Ordinary Wolves.

"Fascinating essays, marvelous photographs. As he did with his remarkable novel, Ordinary Wolves, Seth Kantner illuminates an Alaska most of us will never know." Andrea Barrett

"This book is full of stunning images, and only some of them are in the photos. Others are in the narrative accounts of traditions colliding, subsistences overlapping, dilemmas mounting. It's all quite unforgettable." Bill McKibben

"One of the most beautiful books you'll ever read--truthful, raw, and lovely. The photographs make the sparse arctic Alaskan landscape monumentally visible and profound, while Kantner's writing imparts heroic dignity to the lives around him. From a childhood spent in a time when 'Frostbite was a way of life' to an adulthood fiercely lived, the tale of this man's life is original and funny, vivid and touching. As tough as caribou hide, Kantner enthralls the reader from beginning to end. This book is bound to become a classic alongside the works of Loren Eiseley, Edward Abbey, and John McPhee." Jonis Agee

"With Ordinary Wolves, Seth Kantner came streaking up out of the Arctic tundra like a blazing meteor in reverse. If it isn't the best novel to come out of Alaska so far, I don't know what is. Now, with his new collection of autobiographical vignettes and photographs, we get a closer look at the unique upbringing that informs that fine work. He brings us into the wildest scenes as only someone of this place can do. For all the popularity of the recent best sellers and hit movies about Alaska, Shopping for Porcupine comes from a place you haven't seen yet and can hardly imagine." Dan O'Neill

"Shopping For Porcupine brings the searing honesty, lyric style, and raw emotional power we've come to anticipate from this home-grown Alaska prodigy. In Ordinary Wolves, you glimpsed Seth Kantner's life between the words. Here, you meet it head-on." Nick Jans

Imprint: Milkweed Editions
Distributor: Perseus Distribution
Publication Date: 06-01-2008
Pages: 256
Measurements: 8.50in X 7.00in