Reading this account of Russia’s Great Northern Expedition, unrecounted for more than a century, I always marvel at the courage, determination, and sheer will that these early expeditions required. The exploration plans started with the crossing of Siberia by hundreds of laborers, scientists, and sailors, before the crew could even construct the two ships, ‘St. Peter’ and ‘St. Paul,’ required to make the trip to the Alaskan coast to study and perhaps claim it for Russia. Sailors knew that trip would always end in scurvy; the questions was only how hard hit the crew would be. Without modern navigation, in this unmapped region, the crews could not even count on returning, and Bown narrates the desperate experience of Capt. Commander Vitus Bering, trapped on what would become Bering Island—the Island of the Blue Foxes of the title—for the winter months on the way home. This part of the story is particularly harrowing; debilitated as the crew was, they still successfully contended with six feet of snow, unsheltered, starvation, and the blue fox predators who had no fear of humans. Getting off the island and returning to Kamchatka Peninsula seemed like a miracle. The entire expedition took a decade to complete and cost tens of lives. Was it worth it? Perhaps not, since by the time the two ships returned, Russian priorities had utterly changed and the geographical and natural history intelligence was ignored. Nevertheless, a fascinating story of perseverance and ingenuity.