Big Miracle

This book chronicles the 1988 rescue of three California gray whales that became trapped in Arctic ice near Barrow, Alaska. It inspired a major motion picture starring Drew Barrymore, Ted Danson, Kristen Bell, Tim Blake Nelson, John Krasinski and Vinessa Shaw.

The story unfolds during the Cold War. On October 7, an Inuit hunter spotted the whales locked in the ice, and at the time such trapped whales almost always perished. The author, who was reporting on the event for a Japanese television station, shows how oil company executives, environmental activists, Inupiat residents, local business owners and the U.S. military came together to free them.

The book also follows some of the more than 150 international journalists who carried the story to audiences worldwide. Its account of the operation is shaped by the media attention it drew, including Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev uniting their two nations to help the whales.