A beautiful literary anthology published to commemorate the International Polar Year—and remind us what we’re in danger of losing.
The Arctic and Antarctic ice shelves have been an object of obsession for as long as we’ve known they existed. Countless explorers, including such legends as Richard Byrd, Ernest Shackleton, and Robert Falcon Scott, have risked their lives to chart their frozen landscapes. Now, for the first time in human history, we are in legitimate danger of seeing polar ice dramatically shrink, break apart, or even disappear. The Ends of the Earth, a collection of the very best writing on the Arctic and Antarctic, will simultaneously commemorate four centuries of exploring and scientific study, and make the call for preservation.
Stocked with first-person narratives, cultural histories, nature and science writing, and fiction, this book is a compendium of the greats of their fields: including legendary polar explorers and such writers as Jon Krakauer, Jack London, Diane Ackerman, Barry Lopez, and Ursula K. LeGuin. Edited by two contemporary authorities on exploring and the environment, The Ends of the Earth is a memorable collection of terrific writing—and a lasting contribution to the debate over global warming and the future of the polar regions themselves.
About International Polar Year -
International Polar Year (which begins in spring 2007) is a major international science initiative that aims to focus public attention on the polar regions and our effect on them. The last such initiative, the International Geophysical Year in 1957–58, involved 80,000 scientists from 67 countries. This one promises to be bigger still.
The Arctic and Antarctic ice shelves have been an object of obsession for as long as we’ve known they existed. Countless explorers, including such legends as Richard Byrd, Ernest Shackleton, and Robert Falcon Scott, have risked their lives to chart their frozen landscapes. Today, we are in legitimate danger of seeing polar ice dramatically shrink, break apart, or even disappear. The Ends of the Earth, a collection of the very best writing on the Arctic and Antarctic, commemorates four centuries of exploring and scientific study and calls for preservation.
First-person narratives, cultural histories, nature and science writing, and fiction are compiled this book is a compendium of the greats of their fields: including legendary polar explorers and such writers as Jon Krakauer, Jack London, Diane Ackerman, Barry Lopez, and Ursula K. LeGuin. The Ends of the Earth is edited by two contemporary authorities on exploring and the environment and published to commemorate 2007 as International Polar Year.
International Polar Year (which began in spring 2007) is a major international science initiative that aims to focus public attention on the polar regions and our effect on them. The last such initiative, the International Geophysical Year in 1957–58, involved 80,000 scientists from 67 countries.
Table of Contents
John Franklin, The Extreme Misery of the Whole Party
Elisha Kent Kane, The Return of Light
Chauncey Loomis, Murder in the Arctic?
Andrea Barrett, See the Esquimaux
Jules Verne, Mount Hatteras
Fridtjof Nansen, The Winter Night
Salomon August Andrée, Andrée's Second Diary
Robert Peary, We Reach the Pole
Hinrich Rink, Kasiagsak, The Great Liar
Knud Rasmussen, Songs of the Inuit
Rockwell Kent, The Garden of Eden
Gontran De Poncins, Kabloona
Téte-Michel Kpomassie, A Greenland Christmas
Jack London, In a Far Country
Valerian Albanov, Land Ho!
Halldor Laxness, Icelandic Pioneer
Barry Lopez, The Land, Breathing
Gretel Ehrlich, Aliberti's Ride
Marla Cone, Unexpected Poisons
Elizabeth Kolbert, Shishmaref, Alaska