Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land (Hardcover)

by Subhankar Banerjee (Author) "March 23, 2002: Robert Thompson and I leave Kaktovik heading for the Canning River delta..." (more)
Key Phrases: refuge coastal plain, caribou fences, caribou trails, Arctic Refuge, Arctic Village, Brooks Range (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"... this book is an eye-opening treasure." -- NEWSDAY book review, May 18, 2003

"A 192-page celebration in words and pictures of the bird life of America's greatest wilderness refuge..." -- Leopard Report

"Arctic Wings is a celebration of bird life in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,.." -- Field Notes from North Cascades Institute

"Banerjee's photographs provided irrefutable evidence of the refuge's rich ecological diversity as well as its fragile and unmatched beauty." -- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

"Brown's book is a visually and verbally compelling look at the Arctic." -- San Antonio Express-News

"Stunning photographs....The beautiful photographs and interesting text will appeal to many." -- Wild Bird

"These images are sharply at odds with the notion...that the refuge is a frozen, lifeless place." -- San Francisco Chronicle, February 22, 2004

"This is a tour de force of the Arctic landscape.." -- The Oregonian

Banerjee['s]...exquisite photos allow the voices of plants, animals, and indigenous people to be heard. -- E Magazine

This book should be required reading of every senator, congressman, and president. -- The Explorers Journal

Product Description
It is a land of pristine wilderness, pulsing with life even in the depths of white subzero winter. Entirely unscarred by roads or signs, it is the place in all Alaska where the polar bear most often prefers to den. It is host to more than 180 resident and migratory bird species that journey from six continents and all fifty states to nest and rear their young. Because of the massive herds of Porcupine caribou who converge upon the coastal plain to calve each spring, it is known as "the American Serengeti." To the Gwich'in people, who call the refuge their home, it is "The Sacred Place Where Life Begins." The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a touchstone for all people, one of the few remaining ecosystems on our planet unaltered by human impact, where true wilderness can still be experienced. But now the refuge is showing signs of global warming: immense McCall Glacier, measured to have lost more than thirty feet in depth in the last forty years; the northward march of the dwarf willow, moving at a pace not seen in 8,000 years; the alarming decline of the muskox, forced to forage where their calves are vulnerable to predators. And the refuge is further threatened by oil development, which would forever unravel the delicate pattern of nature found here. Award-winning photographer Subhankar Banerjee devoted two years of his life to documenting the land, its wild species, and its Native peoples. With Inupiat guide Robert Thompson, Banerjee traveled 4,000 miles through the refuge on foot and by raft, kayak, and snowmobile during all four seasons. With more than 200 breathtaking color images, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land makes this case: leaving the refuge intact in all its mysterious beauty is vital to the survival of this unique ecosystem. Banerjee's photos are paired with six essays and a foreword by former president Jimmy Carter.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books; 1 edition (April 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898869099
• ISBN-13: 978-0898869095
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 11.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #375,353 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #80 in

  Books > History > United States > State & Local > Alaska

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's A Keeper Book, April 12, 2003

By A Customer

With the stunning pictures and essays, it's like you are there. It shows the beauty of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in winter and summer. The wildlife and native people are seen as they live their lives. The essays provide guided tours into the Arctic by six conservationists.

One thinks of the Arctic as all white. It is not, even in winter. The snow covered ground makes moose, grizzly, musk oxen, porcupine, willows, and many birds stand out. The ptarmigan changes plumage twice a year to blend into the two Arctic seasons. The sky can be brilliantly blue during the day, and green or red with the Aurora Borealis at night.

The summer brings a greater variety of color to the land and draws the migrating birds through our parts of the country to their nesting area in the Refuge. The Porcupine caribou herd is drawn to the Coastal Plain to give birth and to fatten up for the coming long winter. The pictures and essays tell the story of the people, polar and grizzly bears, the caribou, the musk oxen, a variety of smaller animals, and the large number of bird species that live all, or part of, their lives there.

The book has excellent maps. Some illustrate the migration paths of birds from North and South America, Asia, even Africa. Others show: caribou and bowhead whale migration routes; where the people live; and the major geological features.

Banerjee's pictures range from the broad expanse of mountains and rivers to the color and detail of the lichen on the rocks. I've learned much. One would have to spend many months in the Refuge to see what is in this book.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars why I want to see this book, September 17, 2003

By	"grayga" (Tulsa, OK United States) - See all my reviews

The is not a true review: indeed, I have not yet recived the book for Amazon.

I just came home from a dinner with Peter Mattiessen at the University of Tulsa, at which he spoke passionately of the phyiscal and finacinal effort Mr. Banerjee undertook to create this work, the reaction in Congress to the book, the pressure upon the Smithsonian and the American Muesum of American History to quash display of Mr. Banerjee's photographs, and his personal fears of deportation or worse by the Justice Department under the Patriot Act. A most frightening portral of the reach real or reasonably feared of this Adminstration when an individual, spcially an alien, dares question its motive. As Senator Stevens(R)Alaska, chair of the Senate Appropriate committee was reported to say to his colleages after Banerjee's testimony, and the Senate voted 52-48 against drilling in ANWR, "I know who you are and you will pay".

To cause such a reaction--it must be worth having.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What the Bush Administration wants to suppress, May 3, 2003

By	Listener (Amenia, NY United States) - See all my reviews

The photographs are stunning. It tells the story of a place that the proponents of oil drilling in the Refuge called "white nothingness." Banerjee proves how wrong they were. The photographs have upset the White House or the Republicans so much that they somehow managed to drain a scheduled exhibition of Banerjee's work at the Smithsonian of all its value. See the New York Times article of 2 May 2003, p. A22 This utterly fascinating book deserves extensive circulation on its merits. In light of the administration's attempt to suppress this work at the Smithsonian it is an act of defiance to see that it has maximum circulation!