Eye of the Whale by Dick Russell
Named a Best Book of the Year by three major newspapers upon its initial publication, and now available for the first time in paperback, Eye of the Whale offers an exhilarating blend of adventure and natural history as Dick Russell follows the migration of the gray whale from Mexico's Baja peninsula to the Arctic's Bering Strait. Originally named "Devil-fish' by nineteenth-century whalers, the gray whale's friendly overtures toward humans over the past generation helped to spark the growth of today's whale-watching industry. This majestic marine mammal has also become a focus of controversy, as environmentalists fought to protect its breeding area from industrial development, some protested renewed hunting by a Native American tribe, and, more recently, scientific studies have noted a new decline in the whale's population. Russell's narrative interweaves the remarkable story of Charles Melville Scammon, a nineteenth-century whaling captain responsible for bringing gray whales to the brink of extinction, whose change of heart led to his becoming a renowned naturalist. Retracing Scammon's path, the author encounters contemporary marine biologists who have devoted their lives to studying the gray whale, and native peoples for whom subsistence whale hunting means survival in the most remote regions of the North Pacific. Called "an extraordinary book" by The Washington Post, Eye of the Whale is a stirring account of a creature that is changing our consciousness about the relationship between human beings and the animal kingdom.
Dick Russell, a longtime environmental journalist, is a recipient of the Chevron Conservation Award and the author of The Man Who Knew Too Much (Carroll & Graf, 2003) and Black Genlus: And the American Experience (Carroll & Graf, 1999). He divides his time between Los Angeles and Boston.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781559630887 |
| ISBN 10 | 1559630884 |
| Title | Eye of the Whale |
| Author | Dick Russell |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Island Press |
| Year published | 2004-09-20 |
| Number of pages | 688 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |