Passage to Juneau - (Vintage Departures) by Jonathan Raban (Paperback)

About the Book

With the same rigorous observation (natural and social). invigorating stylishness, and encyclopedic learning that he brought to his National Book Critic's Circle Award-winning "Bad Land", Raban takes readers along the Inside Passage from Seattle to Juneau. Along the way, Raban offers captivating discourses on art, philosophy, and navigation and an unsparing narrative on personal loss.

Book Synopsis

The bestselling, award-winning author of Bad Land takes us along the Inside Passage, 1,000 miles of often treacherous water, which he navigates solo in a 35-foot sailboat, offering captivating discourses on art, philosophy, and navigation and an unsparing narrative of personal loss.

"A work of great beauty and inexhaustible fervor." --The Washington Post Book World

With the same rigorous observation (natural and social), invigorating stylishness, and encyclopedic learning that he brought to his National Book Award-winning Bad Land, Jonathan Raban conducts readers along the Inside Passage from Seattle to Juneau.

But Passage to Juneau also traverses a gulf of centuries and cultures: the immeasurable divide between the Northwest's Indians and its first European explorers--between its embattled fishermen and loggers and its pampered new class.

Review Quotes

"A work of great beauty and inexhaustible fervor." --The Washington Post Book World

"Endlessly suggestive.... Nobody now writing keeps a more provocative house than Jonathan Raban." --The New York Times Book Review

"A great book by the very best contempoary writer afloat." --The Oregonian

"Raban is a super-sensitive, all-seeing eye. He spots things we might otherwise miss; he calls up the apt metaphors that transform things into phenomenal. One of our most gifted observers." --Newsday

About the Author

JONATHAN RABAN is the author of the novels Surveillance and Waxwings; his nonfiction works include Passage to Juneau, Bad Land, and Driving Home. His honors include the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN/West Creative Nonfiction Award, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Award, and the Governor's Award of the State of Washington. He died in 2023.