The environmental histories of the Arctic and Antarctica are characterised by contrast and contradiction. These are places that have witnessed some of the worst environmental degradation in recent history. But they are also the locations of some of the most farsighted measures of environmental protection. They are places where people have sought to conquer nature through exploration and …
Mawson’s Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written
Mawson’s Will is the dramatic story of what Sir Edmund Hillary calls “the most outstanding solo journey ever recorded in Antarctic history.” For weeks in Antarctica, Douglas Mawson faced some of the most daunting conditions ever known to man: blistering wind, snow, and cold; loss of his companion, his dogs and supplies, the skin on his hands and …
The Voyage of the Discovery 2 Volume Set (Cambridge Library Collection – Polar Exploration)
At the outset of the twentieth century, Antarctica was scarcely explored or understood. Penetrating the pack ice in the purpose-built Discovery, the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901-4) established a base in McMurdo Sound, enabling scientists and sledging parties to significantly push back the boundaries of the unknown. Published in 1905, this acclaimed two-volume work by the naval officer …
Replete with color photographs, drawings, and maps of Viking sites, artifacts, and landscapes, this book celebrates and explores the Viking saga from the combined perspectives of history, archaeology, oral tradition, literature, and natural science. The book’s contributors chart the spread of marauders and traders in Europe as well as the expansion of farmers and explorers throughout the North …
The Lost Photographs of Captain Scott: Unseen Images from the Legendary Antarctic Expedition
The myth of Scott of the Antarctic, Captain Robert Falcon Scott, icon of fortitude and courage who perished with his fellow explorers on their return from the South Pole on March 29th, 1912, is an enduring one, elevated, dismantled and restored during the turbulence of the succeeding century. Until now, the legend of the doomed …
For the last decade, Gretel Ehrlich has been obsessed by an island, a terrain, a culture, and the treacherous beauty of a world that is defined by ice. In This Cold Heaven she combines the story of her travels with history and cultural anthropology to reveal a Greenland that few of us could otherwise imagine.Ehrlich unlocks the …
The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen (A Merloyd Lawrence Book)
The Last Viking unravels the life of the man who stands head and shoulders above all those who raced to map the last corners of the world. In 1900, the four great geographical mysteries—the Northwest Passage, the Northeast Passage, the South Pole, and the North Pole—remained blank spots on the globe. Within twenty years Roald Amundsen would claim …
This enduring story of life, adventure, and love in Alaska was written by a woman who embraced the remote Alaskan wilderness and became one of its strongest advocates. In this moving testimonial to the preservation of the Arctic wilderness, Mardy Murie writes from her heart about growing up in Fairbanks, becoming the first …
The geology, ecology and biology of the “continent for peace and science.” This comprehensive, fully illustrated and reader-friendly book honors the International Polar Year (2007-08) with a spectacular range of information on Antarctica and the Antarctic Islands, the world’s harshest environment. Antarctica features up-to-date material from an expert team of …
Re-released to coincide with the discovery of one of the lost Franklin Expedition ships.Frozen in Time tells the dramatic story of how Sir John Franklin’s elite naval forces came within sight of the Northwest Passage, only to succumb to unimaginable horrors. A gripping tale of cannibalism, bureaucratic hubris, great courage and ground-breaking science, it shows how the excavation …