A History of the Arctic

In A History of the Arctic, award-winning polar historian John McCannon provides a far-reaching overview of the region from the Stone Age to the present, examining all of its major aspects from a global perspective. Devoting attention to every Arctic nation – from North America and Greenland to Scandinavia and Russia – this vividly drawn account weaves together topics as diverse as polar exploration and science, Arctic nation-building, the northern environment and the role of indigenous peoples 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 the current diplomatic and environmental realities of the region, exposing the increasingly dire risks it is likely to face in the near future. A History of the Arctic is an engagingly written, detail-rich and thoroughly engrossing survey of this region at the top of the world.