End of the Earth: Voyages to Antarctica

Front Cover
National Geographic, 2003 - History - 242 pages
End of the Earth brings to life the waters of the richest whale feeding grounds in the world, the wandering albatross with its 11-foot wingspan arching through the sky, and the habits of every variety of seal, walrus, petrel, and penguin in the area, all with boundless and contagious inquisitiveness. Magnificently written, the book evokes an appreciation and sympathy for a region as harsh as it is beautiful.

"Luminous and haunting . . . the contemporary Thoreau."--The Wall Street Journal

"[Matthiessen] doesn't waste words, and in End of the Earth: Voyages to Antarctica, his homage to the austere splendor of that frozen continent, he hasn't deployed a single one whose choice I would care to take issue with. . . . Matthiessen writes crusty, chiseled sentences that demand to be read slowly--the perfect prose equivalent of the landscapes he's describing."--The New York Times Book Review

"Matthiessen and polar landscapes seem perfectly suited. . . . I found myself constantly re-reading sentences or paragraphs to savour all of their rich resonances. . . . Few if any authors on the region have so successfully compressed . . . Antarctic life . . . and I suspect it will become standard reading."--The Guardian

From inside the book

Contents

epilogue
191
NOTES
205
BIBLIOGRAPHY
223
Copyright

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About the author (2003)

Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014) was an American writer and naturalist who famously cofounded The Paris Review as a cover for his work as a CIA agent. He won National Book Awards for The Snow Leopard and Shadow Country: A New Rendering of the Watson Legend, making him the only author to have received the honor in both the nonfiction and fiction categories. Birgit Freybe Bateman is an award-winning photographer from Höxter, Germany. Her images have appeared in numerous exhibitions, magazines, and books. Some of her credits include Force Field: 77 Women Poets of British Columbia and End of the Earth: Voyaging to Antarctica. She lives on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. To learn more, visit birgitbateman.com.

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