O'Neill, Dan

(Daniel T. O'Neill)

PERSONAL:

Born in San Francisco, CA; married Sarah Campbell. Education: University of California at Berkeley, graduated; attended the University of Fairbanks.

ADDRESSES:

Home—AK.

CAREER:

Writer, journalist, and historian. Fairbanks Daily News Miner, Fairbanks, AK, former columnist; University of Fairbanks, Fairbanks, former research associate.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Alaska Historian of the Year, Alaska Historical Society, and Outstanding Alaskana Award, Alaska Library Association, both for The Firecracker Boys.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

Recorded History: Transportation Series, Alaska Historical Commission (Anchorage, AK), 1985.

Recorded History: Science Series, Alaska Historical Commission (Anchorage, AK), 1986.

The Firecracker Boys, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

The Last Giant of Beringia: The Mystery of the Bering Land Bridge, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 2004.

A Land Gone Lonesome: An Inland Voyage along the Yukon River, Counterpoint (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Although a native of San Francisco, Dan O'Neill has lived in Alaska for more than three decades and has written extensively about the state, both in articles and in books. In The Firecracker Boys, O'Neill tells the nearly inconceivable story of the Atomic Energy Commission's plan in the late 1950s to blast out a harbor in remote northwest Alaska using atomic bombs. The brainchild of the commission's Edward Teller, who was considered the father of the hydrogen bomb, "Project Chariot" was initially embraced by many in the Alaskan community as they were told it would improve economic development in the state. Eventually, however, local biologists and, more importantly, the Inuit natives of the area began to question the plan. These initial objections gained wider support and led to what many consider to be the first real environmental impact study. In his book, O'Neill details the efforts of those who opposed the plan, which was ultimately abandoned, as well as others who sought to suppress whistle blowers who released information about the plan and its dangers. "O'Neill's book is a well-told story of a major turning point in natural science, technology, policy and human understanding in the twentieth century," wrote Stearns A. Morse in the American Scientist. "In its record of misguided enthusiasm and the power that springs from it, as well as from good science, the tale has many lessons for the present and future." Writing in Science, Morgan Sherwood commented: "The Firecracker Boys remains an exciting, generally reliable account of a dismal but significant chapter in the recent history of science and society."

The Last Giant of Beringia: The Mystery of the Bering Land Bridge is O'Neill's account of the plants, animals, and people who, during the Ice Age, walked across the land bridge that stretched from Asia (what is now Siberia) into the new continent and what is now Alaska. The author also writes about geologist Dave Hopkins, the person who discovered that this land bridge once existed and named it Beringia after the arctic explorer Virus Bering. Patricia Monaghan, writing in Booklist, called The Last Giant of Beringia a "finely researched, elegantly written book." In a review for Kliatt, Raymond Puffer asserted that "O'Neill is, fittingly, a prize-winning historian of Alaska, and his writing skills are fully up to his subject."

O'Neill writes about a boat trip he took down part of the Yukon River in A Land Gone Lonesome: An Inland Voyage along the Yukon River. In addition to describing the various animals and plant life he encounters along the way, O'Neill writes about the state's interesting "backwoods" characters and provides a history of Alaska's past, including stories about the gold rush and pioneers of the Alaskan wilderness. A Publishers Weekly contributor appreciated the author's "poetic renderings of creeks, camps and log cabin settlements." John R. Coyne, Jr., writing in the National Review, concluded: "There are good stories here, well told."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Scientist, November-December, 1995, Stearns A. Morse, review of The Firecracker Boys, p. 586.

Arctic, June, 1997, review of The Firecracker Boys, pp. 178-180.

Booklist, April 15, 2004, Patricia Monaghan, review of The Last Giant of Beringia: The Mystery of the Bering Land Bridge, p. 1412; May 15, 2006, George Cohen, review of A Land Gone Lonesome: An Inland Voyage along the Yukon River, p. 18.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2006, review of A Land Gone Lonesome, p. 395.

Kliatt, January, 2006, Raymond Puffer, review of The Last Giant of Beringia, p. 34.

Library Journal, May 1, 2006, Janet Clapp, review of A Land Gone Lonesome, p. 110.

National Review, July 3, 2006, John R. Coyne, Jr., review of A Land Gone Lonesome, p. 53.

Natural History, October, 2004, Laurence A. Marschall, review of The Last Giant of Beringia, p. 68.

Publishers Weekly, April 19, 2004, review of The Last Giant of Beringia, p. 56; April 10, 2006, review of A Land Gone Lonesome, p. 55.

Science, October 28, 1994, Morgan Sherwood, review of The Firecracker Boys, p. 663.

ONLINE

Firecracker Boys Web site, http://www.firecrackerboys.com (November 4, 2006).

No Nukes North Web site, http://www.nonukesnorth.net/ (November 4, 2006), includes columns written by Dan O'Neill.