In the 1860s, the Russian-American Telegraph Company set out to telegraphically connect the United States and Europe using lines running through the Bering Strait and Siberia; the failed two-year venture marked one of the first explorations of this vast Siberian wilderness. First published in 1870, expedition member George Kennan's tale of a seemingly endless land populated by nomadic tribes and exotic wildlife is enlivened by biting humor and poignant insight, as Kennan evokes the quiet loneliness of the landscape and the eerie glow of the sun at midnight, while offering vivid firsthand accounts of the obscure cultures of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Lonesome Dove contributes an enlightening introduction.