Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0393052192, Hardcover)

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.