Considering accounts written by Northwest Coast marine tourists between 1861 and 1990, Nancy Pagh examines the ways that gender influences the roles women play at sea, the spaces they occupy on boats, and the language they use to describe their experiences, their natural surroundings, and their contact with Native peoples.

Unique features of this book include its interdisciplinary nature and its combination of scholarly information and a style that general readers will appreciate. The text is engaging but also serves to make fresh and relevant links between scholarship in diverse areas of inquiry; for example, Western Canadian and American history, feminist geography, post-colonial theory, and women and environments.

Nancy Pagh was born in Anacortes, Washington, and currently teaches at Western Washington University. She grew up travelling the San Juan Islands and the Canadian Gulf Islands by boat, and, with this book, she turns a critical eye to the writings of other travellers. Dr. Pagh earned degrees in creative writing and literature from the University of New Hampshire and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of British Columbia.

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