Stephen Walter Haycox is an emeritus professor of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), author, and columnist for the Anchorage Daily News. He has written about the history of Alaska. He was born in the Upper Midwest and went to high school in a suburb of New York. He was a musician in the Navy and served in the Pacific. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. His book Frigid Embrace contrasts the non-native Alaskans who come to the state for profit in often exploitative natural resource industries against the indigenous residents lifestyles of people who are permanent residents.