The Ends of the Earth: An Anthology of the Finest Writing on the Arctic and the Antarctic, Volume 1

Elizabeth Kolbert, Francis Spufford

Bloomsbury Publishing USA, Oct 2, 2007 - Travel - 448 pages

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.

Contents

• Francis Spufford Introduction: 1
• Frederick A Cook Into the Night: 13
• Louis Bernacchi Landfall: 28
• Edward Wilson Sledge Dogs and Englishmen: 33
• Ernest Shackleton Farthest South: 43
• Nobu Shirase Lt Shirases Calling Card: 55
• Apsley CherryGarrard The Winter Journey: 63
• Roald Amundsen TopsyTurvy: 78
• Robert Falcon Scott Tragedy All Along the Line: 86
• Francis Spufford Scott Dies: 97
• Douglas Mawson Mawson Lives: 102
• Richard Byrd The Blow: 109
• H P Lovecraft The Blasphemous City: 116
• John Langone Sea Daddy Stormalong John: 128
• Diane Ackerman White Lanterns: 134
• Bill Green Particles: 149
• Jenny Diski Cabin 532: 162
• Sara Wheeler Hey Woo: 173
• Nicholas Johnson Blue Collar: 187
• Kim Stanley Robinson In the Footsteps of Amundsen 2016: 195
• A Brief Chronology of Antarctic Exploration: 211
• Acknowledgments: 215

About the author

Elizabeth Kolbert is the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe, and has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1999. Prior to that, she was a reporter for the New York Times. She lives with her husband and three sons in Williamstown, MA. Francis Spufford writes for the Guardian and lives in Cambridge, England, with his wife and daughter. He received a Somerset Maugham Award for his book on ice exploration, I May Be Some Time.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Ends of the Earth: An Anthology of the Finest Writing on the Arctic and the Antarctic, Volume 1
• Authors: Elizabeth Kolbert, Francis Spufford
• Editors: Elizabeth Kolbert, Francis Spufford
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2007
• ISBN: 1596914432, 9781596914438
• Length: 448 pages
• Subjects: Literary Collections / General; Science / Earth Sciences / Geography; Science / General; Travel / Essays & Travelogues