Books: Seward's Icebox

LORD OF ALASKA: BARANOV AND THE RUSSIAN ADVENTURE—Hector Chevigny —Viking ($3).

ALASKA UNDER ARMS—Jean Potter—Macmillan ($2).

These two books reflect the fact that U.S. readers have at last caught up with the continental statesmanship of Lincoln's and Johnson's Secretary of State, William H. Seward, who forced the purchase of Alaska ("Seward's Icebox'') amid the catcalls of the isolationists of 1867. The Japanese in the Aleutians and the new global geography have made the U.S. suddenly conscious that Alaska is nearer Seattle (as a plane flies) than Seattle is near Los Angeles.

Author Chevigny's book...