The Arctic is composed of the land and waters that surround the North Pole. Russia, whose shores stretch approximately half way round the northern hemisphere, takes the lion's share in the territory but the United States, Canada, and Denmark have their stakes too. Those who inhabit the densely packed ice, however, remain largely unconcerned by national claims and political boundaries. Today the Arctic, neither a continent nor a nation, has become one of the last contested lands on earth. Richard Vaughan focuses on the human inhabitants of the Arctic and their struggle for existence in one of the most inhospitable areas of the world from the Stone Age up to the present day. He looks at the impact of European, American, and Russian exploration on the lives of the indigenous peoples; the attempts to forge trade routes—including those by 16th-century explorer Willem Barentsz and by Henry Hudson—and the exploitation of the region by the West and Russia, including the effects of the whaling industry, fur trading, ivory trading, the mining of coal, and the drilling of oil. Fully revised and updated, this book confirms the richness and diversity of the Arctic's history, culture, wildlife, and landscape and looks at its future.
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"A masterpice of selection, organization and synthesis...will be invaluable in the classroom for the general reader." -- Polar Reader
"A wonderful digest of arctic activity..." -- Independent on Sunday
"written with sensitivity and authority...beautifully produced." -- History Today --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
"A wonderful digest of arctic activity..." -- Independent on Sunday
"written with sensitivity and authority...beautifully produced." -- History Today --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
About the Author
Richard vaughan lectured in history at the Universities of Cambridge, Hull and Central Michigan and also taught at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, where he was chairman of the Arctic Centre. His previous publications include 'Northwest Greenland: A History, In Search of Arctic Birds, The Illustrated Chronicles of Matthew Paris and, with Nancy Jennings, The Stone Curlew. He lives in Porlock, Somerset.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Names and dates,
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This review is from: The Arctic: A History (Hardcover)
This book is a collection of names and dates with a few brief stories in between. Its not quite an 'encyclopedia' of the Arctic, but it gets close. At times it does start to wander in to compelling narratives, but then drops them and begins an unrelated topic. I also found myself consulting other reference works to get more details of some points in the book. In the end, I just started skipping whole chapters and looking for parts that seemed interesting.
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