Into Great Silence

Eva Saulitis

Science entwines with matters of the human heart as a whale researcher chronicles the lives of an endangered family of orcas Ever since Eva Saulitis began her whale research in Alaska in the 1980s, she has been drawn deeply into the lives of a single extended family of endangered orcas struggling to survive in Prince William Sound. Over the course of a decades-long career spent observing and studying these whales, and eventually coming to know them as individuals, she has, sadly, witnessed the devastation wrought by the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989-after which not a single calf has been born to the group. With the intellectual rigor of a scientist and the heart of a poet, Saulitis gives voice to these vital yet vanishing survivors and the place they are so loyal to. Both an elegy for one orca family and a celebration of the entire species, Into Great Silence is a moving portrait of the interconnectedness of humans with animals and place-and of the responsibility we have to protect them.

A NOTE ABOUT NAMES PROLOGUE:  THE LAST ONE                                                                                     PART 1:  PLACE OF FIRST PERMISSION   1. BY BEAVER, BY BEAR    2. LUCKY STAR    3. WHALE CAMP    4. FIRST ENCOUNTER    5. CUT LOOSE    6. INTO THE LABYRINTH    7. MEMORIZE THESE THINGS    8. THE SURVIVAL VALUE OF EXUBERANCE    9. BOYS IN BLUEBERRY SEASON 10. NO PASSAGE OUT 11. VEGANS AND CARNIVORES                                                       PART 2:  SEASON OF DEAD WATER  1. REFUGIA    2. WHEN IT HAPPENS    3. WHERE THE WHALES ARE    4.  PART OF THE DARKNESS    5. INTO THE ICE, INTO THE OIL    6. GROUNDINGS    7. BEAST AND BEAUTY    8. SCIENTIFIC MAGIC    9. THE WHALE CALLED EYAK 10.  ON BEGIN HUSHED AND SILENT11. TALLYING ICEBERGS 12. WILD HORSES, GREEN SKIES 13. MERCIFULLY UNTRANSLATABLE                                                                                                                               PART 3:  SURVIVORS   1. A HUMAN SILENCE    2. IN NAMED AND UNNAMED COVES    3. THE SMALLEST ISLAND    4. IT BARELY MAKES A SOUND    5. BREATHING IN NEVER-NIGHT    6. TRANSIENTS OUTSIDE THE BOX    7. UNCOMMON LANGUAGE 8. THE POETRY OF PREDATION 9. NINE SILENCES                                                                                                                                                                    PART 4:  INTO GREAT SILENCE   1.      HUNGER 2.      MORE THAN WE UNDERSTAND 3.      WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY 4.      WHAT THE SILENCE SAYS 5.      SPACES BETWEEN FACTS 6.      SILENCE AS SURVIVAL 7.      THE STORY INSIDE THE FLESH 8.      SNIPPETS AND TRANSPARENCIES 9.      THE OTHER WORLD 10. WHERE THE SEALS ARE 11. BOOK OF CHANGES 12. LAMENT FOR EYAK 13. IN A LANGUAGE LOST TO US, EYAK IS SINGING 14. THE SPIRIT LINE   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS