History of Other Lands

In an era when segregation thrived and Jim Crow reigned supreme, adventurer Matthew A. Henson defied racial stereotypes. During his teenage years, Henson sailed on vessels that journeyed across the globe, and it is those experiences that caught the attention of famed arctic explo...rer Matthew Peary. Operating as Peary s first man on six expeditions that spanned over a quarter of century, Henson was an essential member of all of Peary s most famous expeditions. His unparalleled skills as a craftsman and his mastery of the dialects of native Northern peoples, Henson was indispensable to the success of these missions.Of all voyages which Henson and Peary undertook, none is more groundbreaking then their 1909 journey to Greenland, and onto the previously impenetrable North Pole. Together with a small team of four native Intuits, Henson and Peary became the first team to ever reach the geographic North Pole, forever cementing their place as two of the greatest Arctic explorers of all time. In 1937, the Explorer s Club honored that achievement, inducting Henson as their first ever African-American member. In 1912, Henson chronicled his recollections of this historic journey in a memoir originally entitled A Negro Explorer at the North Pole. Now reissued as First to the North Pole, this edition of Henson s memoir features a new foreword by Explorer Club president Ted Janulis, emphasizing the importance of Henson s historic achievements.
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An illustrated, book detailing the experiences of the British air crew as they carried out secret operations including a trip to the North Pole, and their later exploits, all carefully researched and including accounts from German sources and survivors of the crew.

Robert Thorson gives readers a Thoreau for the Anthropocene. The boatman and backyard naturalist was keenly aware of the way humans had altered the waterways and meadows of his beloved Concord River Valley. Yet he sought out for solace and pleasure those river sites most dramatic...ally altered by human invention and intervention for better and worse.
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In recent years, journalists and environmentalists have pointed urgently to the melting Arctic as a leading indicator of the growing effects of climate change. While climate change has unleashed profound transformations in the region, most commentators distort these changes by ca...lling them unprecedented. In reality, the landscapes of the North American Arctic-as well as relations among scientists, Inuit, and federal governments- are products of the region's colonial past. And even as policy analysts, activists, and scholars alike clamor about the future of our world's northern rim, too few truly understand its history. In Unfreezing the Arctic, Andrew Stuhl brings a fresh perspective to this defining challenge of our time. With a compelling narrative voice, Stuhl weaves together a wealth of distinct episodes into a transnational history of the North American Arctic, proving that a richer understanding of its social and environmental transformation can come only from studying the region's past. Drawing on historical records and extensive ethnographic fieldwork, as well as time spent living in the Northwest Territories, he closely examines the long-running interplay of scientific exploration, colonial control, the testimony and experiences of Inuit residents, and multinational investments in natural resources. A rich and timely portrait, Unfreezing the Arctic offers a comprehensive look at scientific activity across the long twentieth century. It will be welcomed by anyone interested in political, economic, environmental, and social histories of transboundary regions the world over. The author intends to donate all royalties from this book to the Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (AYEA) andEast Three School's On the Land Program.
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Explores the fascinating history and culture of this archipelago, where nature and geology provide a spectacular setting