Glacier Bay: The Wild Beauty of Glacier Bay National Park

Located 45 miles from Juneau, Alaska, Glacier Bay National Park encompasses more than 3.3 million acres of wilderness land. Dominated by sheer 15,000-foot mountains, carved by swift rivers, and served by a single paved road, the park is remote and difficult to access--unless you're one of the 360,000-odd visitors who arrive there by cruise ship, touring the park's hundred-mile-long coast.

Noted wildlife photographers and prolific authors Erwin and Peggy Bauer go far beyond the docks in this portfolio and guidebook, which captures the place in several seasons and moods. Among their subjects are the park's landforms (including glaciers and mountains), its abundant and varied bird life, and indigenous mammals such as mountain goats, wolverines, sea lions, seals, killer whales, otters, and, as the authors cheerfully remark, "bears, bears, bears." Students of nature photography will find much to learn from in these pages, and visitors planning a trip by whatever conveyance into the area will get a good sense of what awaits them, as well as a fine keepsake volume. --Gregory McNamee