Sightings(ISBN=9780792241027)

From Booklist
The gray whale is probably the most watched of all the whales as their yearly migration along the Pacific coast brings them close to the many watchers on shore and in boats. Peterson, a nature writer, and Hogan, a Native American poet, spent seven years following the whales' migration and talking with people affected by the whales. The two voices of the authors are rendered in different type, with Hogan's more philosophical musing on the relationship between human and whale juxtaposed with Peterson's more reporterly presentation of gray whale natural history and of the people who interact with them. Starting with a visit to the calving grounds in San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja California, the authors socialize with the whales known as "friendlies" because they choose to approach people. Other sections follow the migration, showcase differing viewpoints on the Makah tribe's renewed hunting of whales and on aboriginal whaling in general, and discuss the summer home of the gray whales in the Arctic seas, where the whales feast and grow fat for their return journey south. Nancy Bent
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The gray whale is one of the most ancient and mysterious of all the great whales. Its 10,000-mile West Coast migration tells a story of many worlds, human and cetacean - a living interspecies history. For 50 million years, these gray elders of all the whales have evolved alongside our shores and we are linked to these mammal kin by more than a shared history. Anatomically, there is a human equivalent for every bone in the gray whale's body - from fragile vestigial limbs invisible in the gray's mighty tale flukes to the delicate finger and hand skeletons inside each pectoral fin. Like hidden, mirror images, humans and gray whales reflect a larger story than science alone can tell. While Sightings looks at the past and the present events surrounding the gray whale, including recent hunting agreements, the authors also keep an eye to the future. Following the gray whale's monumental journey along the West Coast from Baja to Bering Sea, they tell the story not only of the whale but also of the people, both tribal, scientific researchers, everyday natural explorers and fishermen, and those small coastal communities whose lives are graced with and focused on the gray whale migration. Hogan's and Peterson's voices offer an insight into the current conflicts between Native peoples, businessmen, the tour industry, and environmentalists. The book includes the narrative retelling of dialogues with tribal leaders, hunters, scientists and communities, and the history of traditional whaling villages and what residents have observed in their many years of watching the gray whale. It will also describe the environment and lands along the migration - its sand, water, black rocks, the vegetation of the sea and other marine life - a story placed within the context of the whale's environment.

Fat     BY    LINDA     HOGAN
INTRODUCTION
GRAY  WHALE  MAPS
PART  ONE
First Sight: Baja
PART  TWO
Eye View: The Journey
PART  THREE
Double Vision: Hunting the Whales
PART  FOUR
Eye to Eye: Honoring the Whale
PART  FIVE
A old Eye: The Far North
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS