Lord of Alaska; The Story of Baranov and the Russian Adventure by Hector Chevigny - 1970

Portland, OR: Binford and Mort, Publishers, 1970 Binford and Mort, Publishers, Portland, OR. 1970. Softcover/Trade Wraps. 8th Printing. Book is tight, square, and unmarked. Book Condition: Near Fine; light rubbing to wraps. No DJ. Pictorial wraps. Wraps are not bent or folded; spine is not creased or split. 320 pp. The historical biography of Alexander Baranov, who rose from humble beginnings to be a virtual dictator in Russian-held Alaska in the eighteenth century. The lucrative fur trade brought him across Siberia and frozen seas to take charge of trading establishments on the Alaska coast. Orthodox priests from Russia were in the settlements pursuing conduct and attitudes conducive to friction between natives and Russians and Baranov had more than one native uprising to contend with. Baranov was pictured by historians as a bloody tyrant until the publication of his letters revealed a different type of man, extremely human and possessed of doubts and fears, the same as other men. In spite of the difficulties, he expanded his empire from a few forts to an agricultural station on Russian River in Northern California, ruling a three-thousand mile stretch of land, and finally was made a count by the Emperor of Russia. A clean pristine copy.