Describes the 1899 Harriman Alaska Expedition, revisits places where the expedition stopped, and compares Alaska past and present A century ago, Edward H. Harriman, the president of the Union Pacific Railroad and perhaps the wealthiest man in America, put some of his wealth to visionary purpose: he outfitted a steamship with scientific instruments, hired a 65-member crew, and invited choice friends to accompany him on a cruise to Alaska. But more: he invited 30 more guests, "the nation's top natural scientists, mainly, but also a few practical engineering types, some cultural enthusiasts, select writers and artists and photographers." Among those 30 "faculty" were the great naturalists John Muir, John Burroughs, C. Hart Merriam, George Bird Grinnell, and William Dall, who took the opportunity to study the flora, fauna, and geology of the glacier-carved coasts of what Burroughs called "green Alaska," infusing American natural-history literature with a stream of books and articles on the then little-known North. Nancy Lord, the author of the fine Alaska memoir Fishcamp , retraces the course of the Harriman expedition, examining how much of Alaska has changed--but also how much more has remained much as her peers of a century ago saw it. Her graceful, vigorous book is a fine contribution to the history of science, and a welcome addition to the shelves of anyone with an interest in natural-history writing and arctic exploration. --Gregory McNamee A thoughtful and imaginative tour of the Alaskan landscape, past and present, by a laureate of the tundra. In 1899, writes Lord (Fishcamp: My Life on an Alaskan Shore, 1997), the Bill Gates of a century ago, Edward H. Harriman, funded an exotic dream vacation for himself: he fitted a steamship with motor launches and canoes, a piano and organ, weaponry for hunting, horses and tents, cases of champagne and the requisite thin-stemmed glasses, a library, the latest audio and visual equipment, along with a 65-man crew and the livestock to feed them. Added to this roster were some of the nations leading naturalists, writers, and artistsC. Hart Merriam, the mammalogist and head of the US Biological Survey; Edward Curtis, the photographer of American Indian life; George Bird Grinnell, editor of Field and Stream and a founder of the Audubon Society; John Muir, the naturalist and wilderness philosopher; and John Burroughs, also a naturalist, who was one of the countrys most popular writers. Lord reconstructs their witty and learned journey as this latter-day Solon and his entourage traveled across the Far North, calling on native fishing villages and gold-rush camps, collecting samples of animal and bird life that would enrich the holdings of the Smithsonian Institution and other museums, and chronicling all that they saw. Lord has no small adventures herself as she retraces the Harriman Expeditions steps, including a memorable encounter with a grizzly bear; she also notes all that has disappeared in the century since the Harriman party came to Alaska, including many species and many Native American cultures and languages. A beautifully written contribution to what might be called the literary history of science, on a par with Ivan Doigs Winter Brothers and Barry Lopezs Arctic Dreams. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. "Part travelogue, part history lesson, part love letter, and part wake-up call, Green Alaska is a luminous piece of writing, full of richly observed detail. . . . Lord is firmly rooted in place, even when she is at sea." -- Anchorage Daily News Nancy Lord is a recognized expert on coastal Alaska and Edward Harriman's 1899 Alaska expedition. Her first nonfiction book, Fishcamp: Life on an Alaskan Shore, was nominated for a John Burroughs Award for nature writing. Her award-winning stories and essays appear in numerous publications. She teaches, writes, and fishes for a living, making her home in South coastal Alaska. Used Book in Good Condition