In the 1950s C. W. Snedden, owner of the "Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, " used his newspaper to crusade for statehood and the development of Alaska and its resources, particularly North Slope oil and gas. As a confidant of Interior Secretary Fred A. Seaton, Snedden had unrivaled access to the top ranks of the Eisenhower Administration and he employed his connections to advance the cause of Alaska statehood. Snedden orchestrated a national press campaign to push through the statehood legislation and opened much of the North Slope for oil development, which would play such a crucial role in financing the young state. "Fighting for the Forty-Ninth" is the story of how an independent newspaper publisher played a pivotal role in the making of modern Alaska.