A History of the Arctic: Nature, Exploration and Exploitation - Hardcover

John McCannon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1780230184 ISBN 13: 9781780230184

Publisher: Reaktion Books, 2012

Synopsis

Cold and isolated, yet home to some 4 million people; harsh and unyielding, yet receding dramatically every year: the Arctic is an area that defies definition. No landscape has stood out in the modern mind as so quintessentially timeless: imagined and described as a realm of crystalline purity, as a grey kingdom of frozen death, eternal and unchanging. Possessing a unique ecosystem, and home to some of the world's most robust peoples, the Arctic has both fascinated and unsettled outsiders throughout history. Today it stands at the epicentre of an unprecedented environmental crisis. Yet for all its renown the Arctic remains far from perfectly understood. In A History of the Arctic, award-winning polar historian John McCannon provides a far-reaching overview from the Stone Age to the present, examining all major aspects of this vital region from a global perspective. Covering the history of each Arctic nation, McCannon discusses many topics, including polar exploration and science, nation-building and diplomacy, environmental issues and climate change, and the role of indigenous populations in Arctic history. With Arctic territorial claims and resource- extraction assuming ever greater importance in the twenty-first century, this book includes a timely assessment of current diplomatic and environmental realities, along with the increasingly dire risks the region is likely to face in the near future.

About this title

Review:

'A remarkable voyage through the Arctic, from its misty past to contentious present. A graceful writer with a fine eye for telling detail, McCannon offers an exciting, broad-sweep tour . . . A must-read volume for the general public and scholars alike.' --Ronald E. Doel, Associate Professor of History, Florida State University

'I have long sought an outstanding general environmental history of the Arctic only to be disappointed. John McCannon's new work, A History of the Arctic, admirably fills this need. McCannon is at his best in explaining for a broad audience the complex interactions of environment, ecosystems, and humans of all nationalities and cultures in the Arctic. It is a thoughtful, broadly-considered, and sometimes provocative study that offers a transnational perspective on the profound changes over time taking place in this significant region.' --Roger D. Launius, Senior Curator in the Division of Space History, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institute

'A dazzling tour d'horizon . . . Anyone who cares about the Arctic should read this sobering book. Let's hope his gloomy predictions are wrong. I suspect he is right.' --Klaus Dodds, Professor of Geopolitics Royal Holloway, University of London

About the Author:

John McCannon is Assistant Professor of History at Southern New Hampshire University, and has published widely in the field of Arctic history and exploration. He is the author of Red Arctic (1998).

About this edition

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1780230184
• ISBN 13: 9781780230184
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320