The Arctic
- A History, by Richard Vaughan, focuses on the human inhabitants of the Arctic
- a place that’s neither a continent nor a nation but one of the last contested lands on earth. Describing the history & culture of peoples who have struggled for generations for an existence in some of the most inhospitable areas of the world, & who now must struggle against the newer enemies of climate change & investment driven politics, Vaughan also looks at the impact of European, North American & Russian exploration & exploitation on the lives of indigenous peoples. The attempts to forge a trade route the the-north west or north-east passages, the effects of the whaling industry, the mining of coal & the drilling of oil, as well as the scientific & strategic importance of the Arctic are topics under consideration, in a book that will appeal to Polar enthusiast, & those interested in general history, anthropology & geography.