A passionate tale of Alaskan exploration and discovery in North America's most controversial wildlife refuge.
The nineteen-million-acre Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) contains three to eight billion barrels of crude oil. Conservationists and developers have fought bitterly over the land for the last half-century, an era in which petroleum has virtually come to define Alaska. Struggling to combat the big-money politics that threaten ANWR, the conservation efforts of one couple, Olaus and Mardy Murie, have made them legendary.
Jonathan Waterman blends historical narrative with vivid tales of his journeys into the Arctic, creating tension between past and present, science and politics, reflection and investigation. Since 1983, he has taken eighteen trips into the far North, trekking and paddling thousands of miles and encountering howling wolves, Inupiat hunters, and the oil-ravaged Prince William Sound. Where Mountains Are Nameless explores how oil exploration has choked Alaska's pristine wilderness and also traces the lives of the celebrated Muries. This memorable portrait makes the stakes over ANWR vividly clear. 3 maps, 23 illustrations.
- ISBN10 0393052192
- ISBN13 9780393052190
- Publish Date 17 May 2005
- Publish Status Inactive
- Out of Print 3 April 2009
- Publish Country US
- Imprint WW Norton & Co
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 304
- Language English