Following on the heels of Mike Gordon’s bestselling memoir, Learning the Ropes, Mike explains, “For DAGNABIT! I used a larger canvas and a broader brush.”

Whether you’re a sourdough, a cheechako, or you’ve never set foot in the Last Frontier, you’ll enjoy this nostalgic romp through pre-statehood Alaska, the rough-and-tumble ‘70s, and the few years of the ‘80s Gordon refers to as the Glory Days, when anything was possible and money was no object.

This memoir, like Mike Gordon, has no geographic boundaries. Though very much a book about Alaska, it travels the globe from Portage and Whittier to Antigua, Russia, Venezuela and even India.

In addition to warmly wrought tributes to interesting characters far and wide, Gordon brings to life his dear friend and mentor, and one of Alaska’s towering talents, Ruben Gaines, a man who literally entertained the entire state of Alaska for decades.

​

 "With DAGNABIT!, Mike Gordon puts the memoir on steroids. In this warmly inviting compendium of personal recollections, tale-telling, and Alaska folk history—seasoned with poems, stories, and duck cartoons by Ruben Gaines, late beloved radio broadcaster, poet laureate, and chronicler of the Alaskan experience—Gordon takes the reader on an expertly guided tour of his remarkably accomplished life in the Last Frontier. Gordon has a distinctive way of bringing the reader right into the action—whether it’s an attempted raft escape from the bush, the deeds and misdeeds of two adopted uncles, or a fracas at Chilkoot Charlie’s (Gordon’s famous—and infamous—Anchorage watering hole named after one of Gaines’s legendary characters). Gordon’s accounts and reflections come from a man who has done it all—and then some—and who writes with refreshing openness and energy. Alaskans will find much to resonate with...and howl at...in DAGNABIT! It’s the real Alaska deal."

​

Phil Gaines

Eldest son of Ruben Gaines