Where Mountains Are Nameless: Passion and Politics in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

by Jonathan Waterman

Overview

The "compelling" (Seattle Times) story behind a most sacred piece of American wilderness.

Adventurer Jonathan Waterman braves polar bears and frigid waters in a journey through the heart of the Alaskan wilds—and into the heated political debate surrounding the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. A 19-million-acre wilderness that may contain as much as 16 billion barrels of crude oil, the Refuge has been at the center of an epic battle between conservationists and developers. Waterman's unforgettable trek, which will air on PBS as part of National Geographic's Wild Chronicles series, brings readers face to face with perhaps the most sought after patch of American soil and those who—like the pioneering conservationists Olaus and Mardy Murie—have made it their life's work to preserve it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393330175
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	01/17/2007
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Waterman is a photographer, the author of nine books, and an accidental filmmaker. His award-winning work often explores the North, and he recently earned a Literary Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He and his family live outside Carbondale, Colorado.

Editorial Reviews

"It will effectively send you screaming to your computer to pound out an e-mail to your congressman."

National Geographic Adventure Magazine

There's little new in this overview of the current state of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) by Alaska adventurer Waterman (Arctic Crossing), who considers what remains of Alaska's pristine northern wilderness: fragile land is threatened, caribou herds are dwindling and oil companies are despoiling whatever they touch. Others have imparted impassioned observations of this kind, most recently Rick Bass in Caribou Crossing. Still, two qualities recommend this memorable depiction of a barren land's stark and precarious beauty. The first is the author's easy familiarity with the region, which he has trekked and paddled through for 20 years, bearing explicit witness to the destructive effects of oil exploration outside the ANWR. The second is Waterman's sense of history: laced through the reflective account of his travels is an engaging minibiography of the pioneering conservationist couple Olaus and Mardy Murie, legendary figures in the fight for the preservation of Alaskan wilderness. Olaus Murie first explored Alaska in 1914; he and Mardy first championed a wildlife refuge in the Eisenhower era; Mardy died in 2003, at age 101, knowing that legislation to open ANWR to petroleum had-one more time-been defeated. Maps and illus. not seen by PW. (May) FYI: Drilling in ANWR is still a live issue, as the Senate voted narrowly in March to include such drilling in the as-yet-unapproved federal budget. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

In this strong argument against the development of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), explorer and author Waterman (In the Shadow of Denali) blends his personal experiences (he's traveled there 18 times) with a historical look at oil politics. Of course, any discussion of environmental efforts to protect ANWR must include the work and lives of Olaus, Mardy, and Adolph Murie, the pioneering conservationists who helped create the refuge. Waterman interweaves his encounters with the Muries with biographical information. Writing in a sometimes poetic, sometimes philosophical style, he describes the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of the land and its plant and animal inhabitants. With renewed efforts by the Bush administration to open ANWR to oil exploration, this book is recommended for all public, academic, and high school libraries.-Betty Galbraith, Owen Science & Engineering Lib., Washington State Univ., Pullman Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal