Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on the World’s Greatest Scientific Expedition

Winter advisory to all readers who venture into the pages of the chronicle of Commander Bering across the top of the world over land and frozen sea to find direct passage to Northwestern America from Siberia; wear a parka and sit near a fireplace if possible. This makes Brown’s third book that might be found in the frozen-food section, and his best yet. His other award-winning works on early seafaring life create a three-dimensional backdrop for this edgy documentary.

This could have easily been a boring book in the hands of someone without Brown’s extensive background on the multi-dimensional elements of this story. It begins with Peter the Great’s desire to raise Russia’s status among his imperial European peers by launching a nearly impossible expedition, one that takes a decade to complete at an outstanding sum of money. By the time it is over, Peter is dead, his successor, Empress Anna, is dead, and Bering himself has forfeited his life for answers to questions Empress Elizabeth and her cabinet no longer consider interesting.

This tale twists over an uncharted early eighteenth-century world where ship-wreck often spells certain doom. However, in this case, the sea gives up her dead to return and tell the living of the lessons learned.