RANALD MacDONALD Adventurer

Pass this up -- it has little or no excuse for being. The material is presumably based on family records and letters, and yet it lacks the ring of authenticity. According to this author, MacDonald was born in the Columbia River region, of an Indian princess and a fur trader. After school and a brief try at banking, he went off on a whaler to the Far East, jumped ship at Japan, then forbidden, and after ten months of imprisonment, was released and stayed to teach English. Eventually, he returned to the northwest and a quiet life.