Where the Sea Breaks Its Back
The Epic Story of Early Naturalist Georg Steller and the Russian Exploration of Alaska
by Corey Ford, 1966, Alaska Northwest Books, Portland
I heard about this book from a shore tour guide in Juneau when we were on our Alaska cruise this summer. We decided to buy the book when we were in the park bookstore in Denali.
This book is great background on the discovery of Alaska, about which I knew nothing. The book details the preparations and the voyage of Vitus Bering who first discovered Alaska on his voyage in 1741. George Steller, the Danish naturalist who accompanied Bering on this voyage, and his discoveries are the focus of the book, although the author also tells us a great deal about Bering and the actual voyage. The book is, therefore, a great source of early Alaskan history, especially for those who don’t know much about it.
Steller, as a naturalist, documented the discovery of many species of animals and plants. The author does a good job of balancing details of these discoveries with description and analysis of the men on the voyage, particularly Steller and Bering. The voyage itself was a series of disastrous events that were a direct result of the personalities involved. Ford traces these events and provides a great deal of insight on the failures of leadership that led up to these events.
The readability and flow of the book is very good. Overall, I would rate the book as a four star out of five.
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