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Ultima Thule: Explorers and Natives in the Polar North
 
 
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Ultima Thule: Explorers and Natives in the Polar North [Hardcover]

Jean Malaurie (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Book Description

December 1, 2003

An illustrated history of 170 years of Arctic exploration and its effects on indigenous peoples.

Ultima Thule is the terrible and yet fantastic story of European and American exploration in the polar north. Based on excerpts from the explorers' logs counterbalanced by Inuit testimony, it brings to life both sides of the clash that arose when white men arrived in the Far North, dreaming of conquest and believing that they brought with them a civilization superior to that of the indigenous peoples they found. Today, the outlook for the Inuit and the polar environment is bleak: the people and their landscape are in danger of disappearing for good. But according to Jean Malaurie, the situation is not altogether without hope.

Heavily illustrated with period photographs, engravings, artifacts, and drawings, the book gives the readers the impression of having an entire museum of North Pole history in their hands. 650 color and black-and-white photographs


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Striving to be the ultimate coffee-table book on the Arctic; its white explorers; and the Inuits, the northernmost native people on Earth, this work succeeds grandly. With its breathtaking illustrations, extensive sidebars (largely diary entries, historical documents and ethnographic material) and a condensed history of Arctic exploration and Inuit life, it's hard to imagine anything better. It's also hard to imagine anything bigger (10"×14"), heavier (over six pounds) or more expensive ($75), a perfect example of what CD-ROMs were supposed to replace. French explorer and geographer Malaurie became an ethnographer of the Inuit people after his extended stay in the early 1950s, where he witnessed and then exposed the establishment of a secret American nuclear base in the Inuit capital of Thule, which devastated the tiny native population. Here, he traces the history of despoliation, beginning with the first Arctic explorer to encounter the Inuit (Captain Ross in 1818) and ending with himself and the revival of Inuit life. Each chapter in between is devoted to Arctic explorers and their expeditions in chronological order. Malaurie's version of anthropology reverses the roles of savage and civilized, and his historical accounts of Arctic expeditions' murder, mutiny and mysticism are always fascinatingly told in surprisingly clear and comprehensible prose. Period photographs, engravings, artifacts, maps and drawings help demystify the unknown Arctic.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 384 pages
  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1St Edition edition (December 1, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0393051501
  • ISBN-13: 978-0393051506
  • Product Dimensions: 13.7 x 9.8 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 6.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,396,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect book, November 20, 2004
This review is from: Ultima Thule: Explorers and Natives in the Polar North (Hardcover)
This is the ultimate book on Greenland with a sensitive approach to the inuit people. Both breathtaking and informative. Respect of nature, art and people. A masterpiece.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Massive, beautiful book of the Inuits, Greenland, and the Arctic, April 7, 2009
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Michael A. Duvernois (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ultima Thule: Explorers and Natives in the Polar North (Hardcover)
This is a simply stunning work. It's a massive coffee table book full of the expected excellent photography, but also a good deal of text looking at Inuit society, customs, and culture with the constant backdrop of the harsh Arctic climate. A beautiful book with content.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars ultima thule: review of polar concerns, April 5, 2009
this book is exquisitely presented & an in depth analysis of the plight of the polar inuit society by jean maulaurie. very worth while, if you care about these forgotten, and marginalized people....otherwise, go about
making more money and don't bother. thea, dedicated bookworm:) & polar
enthusiast.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
One of the most unfortunate figures in the history of polar exploration-as though such strong personalities were drawn to these regions that they sometimes expressed themselves as much in baseness and violence as in greatness. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
geomorphological expedition, relief sledges, literary expedition, open polar sea, sealskin thongs, stone igloo, polar pack, arctic history, blubber lamp, eight expeditions, arctic studies, meteoric iron, walrus meat, polar night, skin pants, arctic experience, bow drill, inland ice, geomagnetic pole, harpoon heads, narwhal tusk, navigational data, dog sled, rescue expedition
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Knud Rasmussen, Cape York, United States, Cape Sabine, New York, Hans Hendrik, Melville Bay, Smith Sound, Lauge Koch, Peter Freuchen, Inglefield Land, Captain John Ross, Fort Conger, Wally Herbert, Captain Ross, Sir John Ross, North Star Bay, Charles Francis Hall, Northwest Passage, South Greenland, Erik Holtved, Matt Henson, Captain Hall, Polar Inuit, Washington Land
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