What shapes our ideas about northern territories? How should a new government tackle

its first term in office? How can political ideals thrive in a homogenized global

marketplace? How can honourable relations be created between the different cultures of

natives and settlers?

These are the types of questions asked and answered by Tony Penikett, a former Yukon

Premier and a writer who kept writing during an almost accidental political career that

lasted a quarter of a century. He brings both the writer's eye and the insider's insight to

events at the local, national and international levels.

Early essays reflect on the forces that have shaped the North and on creating one's own

political compass. Later work focuses on balancing the complexities of power: economy

and environment, European and aboriginal, regional and national, principles and

practicalities. A writer's sense of humour appears, too, when describing the "politics of

moose" to his constituents or his life as "a meeting man" to his children.