Tip: My 3,000-Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska, the Last Great American Frontier

The National Bestseller

Mark Adams, the acclaimed, bestselling author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu, embarks on a fascinating, wild, and wonder-filled journey into Alaska, America's last frontier. More than a hundred years after railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman organized an unusual summer voyage to the Alaskan wilds in 1899, Adams sets out to retrace that historic expedition.

In 1899, Harriman 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. Today, Alaska remains America's most sublime wilderness, both the lure that draws one million tourists annually on Inside Passage cruises and 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, 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.

More than a century later, Alaska is still a land of immeasurable beauty and impending environmental calamity. As Adams travels town to town by water, he explores how this remote and rugged state has evolved, both in terms of its natural wonders and the people drawn to its wild and untamed landscapes. Through his encounters with the region's eccentric residents and his own personal reflections, Adams sheds light on the delicate balance between preservation and progress, and the ongoing challenges faced by this unique and captivating part of America.

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