The first modern biography of the great explorer -- and an excellent account of still little-known regions of Kamchatka and the Russian Far East. The author draws on new evidence to reinvigorate the life and adventures of the seafaring Dane, including his relationship with naturalist Georg Steller. Frost covers the two extraordinary Kamchatka expeditions in detail. Bering and his men discovered the strait (named after Bering) separating Asia and America -- and the expedition was the first to map the west coast of North America. Frost, an authority, also edited Steller's account of the voyage, Journal of a Voyage with Bering, 1741-1742 (RUS63). He quotes extensively from Stellar's account, who emerges as one of the book's stars.  (SIB33, $35.00)