Polar Regions category: 485 books

In Sampler tradition, this 2015 volume showcases the “best of the best” of Alaska-inspired prose, beginning with author Heather Lende, who proves that life in the small town of Haines, Alaska, is anything but ordinary. In an excerpt from her popular memoir If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name,...

If you enjoy reading entertaining nonfiction short stories, then you will love Aunt Phil's Trunk Volume Two. Not only do these easy-to-read pages keep you hooked to see what happens next, they also offer a window into the past through hundreds of historical photographs.

"Torngat Mountains, A New Waiver" is Noah Richler's contribution to Northwords, a cross-platform project that takes urban Canadian writers to some of the world’s most extreme environments. Introduced by award-winning journalist and radio personality Shelagh Rogers, Northwords is...

'Adrian Caesar's chilling prose transported me right back into the heart of Antarctica. This is a magnificent re-telling of those two fateful expeditions of 1912.' – Ranulph Fiennes Mawson decided to turn north ... when he was suddenly plummeted downwards with the fearful rush of nightmare....

Historian David Crane, with full access to the explorer’s papers, diaries, and expedition records, gives us an illuminating portrait of Robert Falcon Scott that is more nuanced and balanced than any we have had before. In reassessing Scott’s life, Crane is able to provide a fresh perspective...

"As the Ice Melts: Letters from Antarctica" is the title I gave to a series of newsletters sent to family and friends when I spent the summer of 1985-86 on "The Ice" at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. I was going through a burn-out period at my work as a freelance court reporter in...

Scottish doctor and explorer John Rae is a controversial figure in the history of the Arctic. He began his career with the Hudson's Bay Company as a surgeon in Moose Factory, Ontario, where he learned to survey, live off the land, and travel great distances on snowshoes. These skills served him well...

Although Arctic explorer and Hudson Bay Company surveyor John Rae (1813–1893) travelled and recorded the final uncharted sections of the Northwest Passage, he is best known for his controversial discovery of the fate of the lost Franklin Expedition of 1845. Based on evidence given to him by local...

Here is the dramatic story of Scandinavia - from its earliest Germanic origins and Viking sea raids to its battles for independence and its involvement in World War II. Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, writes award-winning historian Ewan Butler writes, struggled through unions and separations,...

'A superb book … Few can duplicate Mr Scott's ability to relate a provocative adventure.' The New York Times Book Review 'A polished, integrated work and a valuable portrait.' Sunday Telegraph 'Awed by the landscape and people he encountered, Scott does full justice to both in this engaging travel...

Driven by a passion for travel and history and a love of ships and the sea, former Monty Python stalwart and beloved television globe-trotter Michael Palin explores the world of HMS Erebus, last seen on an ill-fated voyage to chart the Northwest Passage. Michael Palin brings the fascinating...

Tim Bowden first visited and fell in love with Antarctica in 1989 and has been back five times. This is the very personal memoir of that first trip south. With a well-tuned sense of the absurd, Tim introduces the varied personalities and eccentricities of life on board the resupply ship Icebird....

With prospectors, trappers, and whalers pouring into northwestern Canada, the North West Mounted Police were dispatched to the newest frontier to maintain patrols, protect indigenous peoples, and enforce laws in the North. In carrying out their duties, these intrepid men endured rigorous and dangerous...

"Intriguing [and] enjoyable." —Ian McGuire, New York Times Book Review Ice Ghosts weaves together the epic story of the lost Franklin Expedition of 1845—whose two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and their crew of 129 were lost to the Arctic ice—with the modern tale of the...