Over fifty years ago Hannah Breece bestowed upon her great niece, Jane Jacobs, her manuscript, roughly culled together from diaries and letters from when she was a school teacher in Alaska and the Yukon.  In the summer of 1994, Ms. Jacobs traveled to Alaska to do the research necessary to complete her great aunt's book. In 1904, Hannah Breece set off for Alaska, where she was sent by the American government to teach Aleuts, Dina'ina, Athabascans, and people of mixed-European and Native blood.  She remained in Alaska until 1918 and in this book tells her story.  Diary-like in is mingling of domestic matters, work, public events and chance encounters, Hannah Breece's narrative is spiced with litany of adventures, for she was a women who went anywhere and stood up to anybody. What Hannah Breece could never have guessed was just how relevant her story is today, both in its study of an independent woman and in its early clues to white North America's treatment of the Native populations.  In her introduction and comprehensive notes on the book, Jane Jacobs examines her great aunt's story and reveals and illuminates the mysteries behind this most unusual life. Hannah Breece was an extraordinary woman who traveled to Alaska when she was 45 years old and taught Aleuts, Kenais, Athabaskans, and Eskimos from 1904 to 1918. While other women planned their retirement, Breece scaled cliffs, outran forest fires, and traveled in kayaks. Her long skirts and petticoats never slowed her down. Breece's story depicts the early days in Alaska, when travel was difficult to perilous. She was radical in her teaching, believing education should be enjoyable and avoiding the strict discipline her colleagues employed. Her story reflects on other Alaskan pioneers, namely, Sheldon Jackson and Dr. Henry O. Schlaben. The editor, Breece's niece, visited where Breece taught and describes what the places look like today. Numerous photographs dot the volume, and the book is well indexed, with numerous notes. A welcome addition to the literature on early Alaskan teachers. Recommended for libraries with Alaskan or Pacific Northwest history collections.?Katherine Ellerton, Missouri Research & Education Network, Columbia Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Hannah Breece gave new meaning to the term substitute teacher when in 1940 at age 45 she was employed by the Department of the Interior to take over a classroom in the Kodiak archipelago. For the next 14 years, she would travel to lonely Alaskan settlements from Fort Yukon to Wrangell like an itinerant Ichabod Crane teaching Aleuts, Eskimos, and people of mixed native and European blood. Breece composed a memoir based on her letters home and asked her great-niece, Jane Jacobs, to help with its publication. Decades later, Jacobs has fulfilled the request by editing this engrossing account of Breece's Alaskan adventure. She describes Breece as a veritable "Jessica Fletcher," an inventively radical teacher--dependable, resourceful, lively, and forthright--who opted for assignments in deserted areas where she was greeted by motivated students and grateful parents. Her memoir is a fascinating account of falls through the ice, eating bear, crossing dangerous glacial streams, a sled-dog attack, and lonely homesickness for the sun. Breece desired to civilize not "whiticize" the natives, and educators will wish she had included more details on classroom technique. This must have been "whole language" in its purest form. Patricia Hassler ears ago Hannah Breece bestowed upon her great niece, Jane Jacobs, her manuscript, roughly culled together from diaries and letters from when she was a school teacher in Alaska and the Yukon. In the summer of 1994, Ms. Jacobs traveled to Alaska to do the research necessary to complete her great aunt's book. In 1904, Hannah Breece set off for Alaska, where she was sent by the American government to teach Aleuts, Dina'ina, Athabascans, and people of mixed-European and Native blood. She remained in Alaska until 1918 and in this book tells her story. Diary-like in is mingling of domestic matters, work, public events and chance encounters, Hannah Breece's narrative is spiced with litany of adventures, for she was a women who went anywhere and stood up to anybody. What Hannah Breece could never have guessed was just how relevant her story is today, both in its study of an independent woman and in its early clues to white North America's treatment of Born in Pennsylvania in1859, Hannah Breece taught on Indian reservations in midwest America before accepting a government post to teach in Alaska. Jane Jacobs is the author of several books, including the Death And Life of Great American Cities, Cities And The Wealth of Nations , and most recently, the bestselling Systems of Survival .  She lives in Toronto.