Robert Service: Under the Spell of the Yukon

Words were Robert Service's lifelong passion, and he set them on many stages. But it was his Sam McGee, Dan McGrew and other players of the Great White North who glittered with a golden glow and made him forever the "Bard of the Yukon" and the de facto poet laureate of Alaska. Service spent the decade prior to the First World War traveling across North America. Later, he lived in France with his wife and daughter; during the Second World War they summered in Vancouver, BC, and wintered in the Los Angeles area. An intensely private man, Service remained an enigmatic character until his passing in 1958. Robert Service sheds light on aspects of the poet's life that have only been sketchily covered by other biographers, focusing on his years in the western US and Canada. This new softcover edition also features a selection of some of Service's most popular poems, including "The Cremation of Sam McGee," "The Shooting of Dan McGrew," "The Call of the Wild" and "The Spell of the Yukon."