This is a fascinating diocesan history, partly because the diocese involved is the whole state of Alaska, our last frontier -the Great Land, to Native Americans -with a rich story to be told and partly because of the thorough research and skillful and imaginative editorial work of the editor and contributors.

Photographs abound in this well-designed book, handsome with its front and back cover illustrations of a painting of the first Episcopal church built in Alaska (1894) and the gold nugget cross (1903) that became the prototype for the diocesan seal.

One of A Century of Faith's major threads is the living and loving interaction between the white newcomers and the native population, many of whom embraced the Episcopal Church. Eskimos, Aleuts, Indians placed their stamp on the church's decor and iconography and entered its diaconate and priesthood (the current bishop, Steven Charleston, though not born in Alaska, is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma). In the bonding of the human family, native and non-native together struggled for survival in this harsh, awesome and spectacularly beautiful land, sharing in the communion of saints and the blessing of God's grace.

Chapters on each of the six bishops are rich in stories of their devoted ministry to mining camps, fishing villages, and every outpost within range and of their rugged journeys, sometimes lasting months, by dogsled and small boat.

Other chapters chronicle "Those Who Broke the Trail" - the missionaries who, starting in 1861, preceded the formation of the diocese in 1895, "Alaska's Native Leaders," "Women in the Church," and "Stories from the Missions." A well-mapped armchair tour traces the sprawling diocese from the southeast "banana belt" northward through the vast interior and on to the Arctic Coast.

Emmett G. Bedford

Racine, Wis.