Book bits

The Monitor's weekly literary roundup.

from the February 27, 2007 edition

Page 1 of 3

Alaska Story, by Kay Fanning with Katherine Field Stephen

Many Monitor readers will recall Kay Fanning as the Monitor's first and only female editor. Some may also remember that she came to Boston in 1983 from Anchorage, Alaska, where she had been the publisher of the Anchorage Daily News since 1971.

Fanning was working on this memoir when she passed away in 2000. Her daughter, Katherine Field Stephen, has published it, appending to it essays by friends and colleagues who knew something about those Alaska days.

They were never easy, but always exciting.

Fanning, newly divorced, left Chicago for Alaska in 1965, arriving in a station wagon with three children in tow. She took a $2-an-hour job at the underdog Daily News, filing clippings and photos in the paper's library.

By the next year, she had married Larry Fanning, former editor of the Chicago Daily News, and together they blazed a journalistic trail in the country's newest state. Despite counsel that they were making a fool's bargain, the Fannings purchased the Daily News, a fledgling liberal paper overshadowed by the dominant and conservative Anchorage Times.

Armed with a scrappy, young staff, and a commitment to the "unfettered flow of ideas," the Fannings' Daily News energetically pursued environmental issues, gun control, Native rights, and local politics.

Larry's sudden death in 1971 thrust the reins of control into Kay's hands. Many say it was her steady grace and unwavering religious faith that kept the paper afloat. A Pulitzer Prize was another victory.

Journalism is often described as the first draft of history. And in many ways so is this memoir. Readers may feel they are stopping by the desk of a remarkable woman, loaded with interesting personal objects and a project half completed. Much is left to be said about this extraordinary life. Nevertheless, Fanning's voice rings true with warmth and humble insight. If you didn't know her, after reading "Alaska Story" you will wish you had.
– Kendra Nordin

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