**The National Bestseller** From the acclaimed, bestselling author of
Turn Right at Machu Picchu, a fascinating, wild, and wonder-filled journey into Alaska, America's last frontier
In 1899, railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman organized a most unusual summer voyage to the wilds of Alaska: He converted a steamship into a luxury "floating university," populated by some of America's best and brightest scientists and writers, including the anti-capitalist eco-prophet John Muir. Those aboard encountered a land of immeasurable beauty and impending environmental calamity. More than a hundred years later, Alaska is still America's most sublime wilderness, both the lure that draws one million tourists annually on Inside Passage cruises and as a natural resources larder waiting to be raided. As ever, it remains a magnet for weirdos and dreamers.
Armed with Dramamine and an industrial-strength mosquito net, Mark Adams sets out to retrace the 1899 expedition. Traveling town to town by water, Adams ventures three thousand miles north through Wrangell, Juneau, and Glacier Bay, then continues west into the colder and stranger regions of the Aleutians and the Arctic Circle. Along the way, he encounters dozens of unusual characters (and a couple of very hungry bears) and investigates how lessons learned in 1899 might relate to Alaska's current struggles in adapting to the pressures of a changing climate and world.
Author: Mark Adams
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Dutton
Published: 05/28/2019
Pages: 352
Weight: 0.68lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.40w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781101985120
About the AuthorMark Adams is the author of the
New York Times bestsellers
Meet Me in Atlantis and
Turn Right at Machu Picchu. A writer for many national magazines, including
GQ,
Men's Journal, and
New York, he lives near New York City with his wife and children.