Mark Adams's Turn Right at Machu Picchu is one of the funniest travel volumes I've read, so I was excited to see his most recent work, Tip of the Iceberg on the library's bookshelf. In it, Adams sets out for Alaska, largely retracing the steps of the 1899 expedition organized and financed by railroad tycoon Edward Harriman that put Alaska on the map as a destination. Like any good researcher, Adams also makes several additional visits, speaking with experts in a variety of fields and creating a picture of the contours of life in Alaska and the unique challenges facing it.
In comparison to Machu Picchu, this work suffers. It's simply not as funny or as dramatic as Adams's rendering of either his own experience hiking the Inca Trail or those of the Bingham expedition or the Spaniards. That's not to say that Tip of the Iceberg isn't a fine book - it just needs to be appreciate for it's own merits, rather than compared to Adams's earlier work. And what Tip of the Iceberg does well is crystallize the myriad issues facing Alaska today, from the biggie - climate change - to conversations around land use, native rights, and balanced budgets. This is very much a snapshot of the zeitgeist of America in the MAGA era, while also providing historical detail on the "discovery" of Alaska's wilds a century-plus ago.
That's not to say Tip of the Iceberg is without humor. Adams's encounter with a couple of bear cubs, his journeys by ferry, and encounters with numerous quirky locals, provide plenty of entertainment. The harder questions posed, always subtly, but just there - under the tip of the iceberg - are more reminiscent of Chesapeake Requiem than Machu Picchu.
Four stars.
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