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Antarctica: A Biography
Since the first sailing ships spied the Antarctic coastline in 1820, the frozen continent has captured the world's imagination. David Day's brilliant biography of Antarctica describes in fascinating detail every aspect of this vast land's history--two centuries of exploration, scientific investigation, and contentious geopolitics.
Drawing from archives from around the world, Day provides a sweeping, large-scale history of Antarctica. Focusing on the dynamic personalities drawn to this unconquered land, the book offers an engaging collective biography of explorers and scientists battling the elements in the most hostile place on earth. We see intrepid sea captains picking their way past icebergs and pushing to the edge of the shifting pack ice, sanguinary sealers and whalers drawn south to exploit "the Penguin El Dorado," famed nineteenth-century explorers like Scott and Amundson in their highly publicized race to the South Pole, and aviators like Clarence Ellsworth and Richard Byrd, flying over great stretches of undiscovered land. Yet Antarctica is also the story of nations seeking to incorporate the Antarctic into their national narratives and to claim its frozen wastes as their own. As Day shows, in a place as remote as Antarctica, claiming land was not just about seeing a place for the first time, or raising a flag over it; it was about mapping and naming and, more generally, knowing its geographic and natural features. And ultimately, after a little-known decision by FDR to colonize Antarctica, claiming territory meant establishing full-time bases on the White Continent.
The end of the Second World War would see one last scramble for polar territory, but the onset of the International Geophysical Year in 1957 would launch a cooperative effort to establish scientific bases across the continent. And with the Antarctic Treaty, science was in the ascendant, and cooperation rather than competition was the new watchword on the ice. Tracing history from the first sighting of land up to the present day, Antarctica is a fascinating exploration of this deeply alluring land and man's struggle to claim it.
Drawing from archives from around the world, Day provides a sweeping, large-scale history of Antarctica. Focusing on the dynamic personalities drawn to this unconquered land, the book offers an engaging collective biography of explorers and scientists battling the elements in the most hostile place on earth. We see intrepid sea captains picking their way past icebergs and pushing to the edge of the shifting pack ice, sanguinary sealers and whalers drawn south to exploit "the Penguin El Dorado," famed nineteenth-century explorers like Scott and Amundson in their highly publicized race to the South Pole, and aviators like Clarence Ellsworth and Richard Byrd, flying over great stretches of undiscovered land. Yet Antarctica is also the story of nations seeking to incorporate the Antarctic into their national narratives and to claim its frozen wastes as their own. As Day shows, in a place as remote as Antarctica, claiming land was not just about seeing a place for the first time, or raising a flag over it; it was about mapping and naming and, more generally, knowing its geographic and natural features. And ultimately, after a little-known decision by FDR to colonize Antarctica, claiming territory meant establishing full-time bases on the White Continent.
The end of the Second World War would see one last scramble for polar territory, but the onset of the International Geophysical Year in 1957 would launch a cooperative effort to establish scientific bases across the continent. And with the Antarctic Treaty, science was in the ascendant, and cooperation rather than competition was the new watchword on the ice. Tracing history from the first sighting of land up to the present day, Antarctica is a fascinating exploration of this deeply alluring land and man's struggle to claim it.
624 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2012
20 people are currently reading
250 people want to read
About the author
David Day
21 books9 followersDavid Day has written widely on Australian history and the history of World War II. His biography of John Curtin won the 2000 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards Prize for History and was shortlisted for the 2000 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction, while his biography of Ben Chifley was shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier’s Award for History in 2002. David Day is currently an Honorary Associate with the History Program at La Trobe University and a visiting professor at the University of Aberdeen. He lives in Eltham, Victoria.
1986: Menzies and Churchill at War
1988: The Great Betrayal: Britain, Australia and the Onset of the Pacific War, 1939-42
1992: Reluctant Nation: Australia and the Allied Defeat of Japan, 1942-45
1992: Smugglers and Sailors: The Customs History of Australia, 1788-1901
1996: Contraband and Controversy: The Customs History of Australia from 1901
1996: Claiming a Continent: A New History of Australia
1999: John Curtin: A Life
2001: Chifley
2003: The Politics of War
2005: Conquest: A New History of the Modern World - ISBN 0732277655
2007: The Weather Watchers - ISBN 9780522852752
2008: Andrew Fisher: Prime Minister of Australia
1986: Menzies and Churchill at War
1988: The Great Betrayal: Britain, Australia and the Onset of the Pacific War, 1939-42
1992: Reluctant Nation: Australia and the Allied Defeat of Japan, 1942-45
1992: Smugglers and Sailors: The Customs History of Australia, 1788-1901
1996: Contraband and Controversy: The Customs History of Australia from 1901
1996: Claiming a Continent: A New History of Australia
1999: John Curtin: A Life
2001: Chifley
2003: The Politics of War
2005: Conquest: A New History of the Modern World - ISBN 0732277655
2007: The Weather Watchers - ISBN 9780522852752
2008: Andrew Fisher: Prime Minister of Australia
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 11, 2013
Took me 5 weeks to read this, partly the thickness ( too physically big to read in the bath) but also the breadth of the history and politics of Antarctica. I learnt a lot. But I also felt a little disillusioned by the trade motivations of greed rather than adventure by many of the countries involved. Sounded like academic fund-chasing to outfit expeditions. No different today.
David Day's writing is very well researched. And when as a reader you're not sure if you can handle more facts, he puts in a quirky anecdote. Like the dropping of the flags on spikes from the plane to claim possession. Well structured and paced work, with an underlying observant humour.
I have recommended this book to several friends. And all have agreed, it's a worthwhile read, however long it takes you.
PS Appreciated the map.
April 26, 2022
Ice, baby! Antarctica has a ton of it and Day wants to tell you all about it.
Day takes you through the entire history of Antarctica from when humanity only thought it existed, to when we knew it existed, to when we tried to figure out what to do with it.
The reasons people thought it existed way back in the day are hilarious. They actually thought it had to be there to “balance” out the Earth. Isn’t that ridiculous? It would be like thinking the Earth is flat.
My favorite parts of the book are clearly the exploration times. The poles killed a lot of people who were trying to tame them. We still haven’t.
The last portion gets into the politics of how the world decided Antarctica belonged to no one. Admittedly, the book drags a bit here. It doesn’t have the same energy as people trying to find the South Pole.
Day takes you through the entire history of Antarctica from when humanity only thought it existed, to when we knew it existed, to when we tried to figure out what to do with it.
The reasons people thought it existed way back in the day are hilarious. They actually thought it had to be there to “balance” out the Earth. Isn’t that ridiculous? It would be like thinking the Earth is flat.
My favorite parts of the book are clearly the exploration times. The poles killed a lot of people who were trying to tame them. We still haven’t.
The last portion gets into the politics of how the world decided Antarctica belonged to no one. Admittedly, the book drags a bit here. It doesn’t have the same energy as people trying to find the South Pole.
October 4, 2019
Well this was a book that gives very detailed information about the hundreds of years of man attempting to claim Antarctica for their respective countries , and to best each other in those efforts.
I can’t say it was terribly enjoyable but it gave a historical perspective that reminds me of the quest for the northwest passage. This is a good book to read if you need citations for an essay regarding the above material.
I can’t say it was terribly enjoyable but it gave a historical perspective that reminds me of the quest for the northwest passage. This is a good book to read if you need citations for an essay regarding the above material.
November 12, 2018
Making a fascinating topic about as interesting as a shopping list.
Read
December 7, 2019If you'd like to know what I thought of this book, please contact me directly and I'd be happy to discuss it with you.
All the best,
- TB
All the best,
- TB
July 26, 2016
I thought "biography" meant "life story." Far from being a story of life in Antarctica, this is a bare chronicle of Anglo/Euro/American politics, a long research report published in book form. We learn almost nothing about the continent itself, and the vaunted explorers remain mere names, or at best, caricatures. And the author omits maps which could help us decipher the chaos of conflicting place names.
However, the book offers some lessons for the general reader if you can read between the lines. The author can't help but mention, with implicit disapproval, that a handful of nations with advanced seafaring technology (Norway prominent among them) have savagely, and often sadistically, plundered Antarctic wildlife on an unsustainable industrial scale, in greedy pursuit of corporate profits. They were the first Antarctic explorers and they continue today, and it's worth remembering that Antarctic science would never have happened without this brutal, large-scale destruction of wildlife as a context.
But the most important lesson of this book is the way in which it sheds light on a very destructive aspect of our contemporary culture and society: hero worship and the celebration of entrepreneurs, explorers and innovators. Although none of these men (Scott, Amundsen, Mawson, Byrd, etc.) are drawn in three dimensions, we can read between the lines and fill in their cultural contexts to recognize them as the dregs of humanity that they were.
Selfish and driven largely by testosterone, these paragons of male aggression abandon their families and communities, avoiding productive lives at home and pilfering wealth and other vital resources from their home communities so they can wreak destruction on distant habitats and populations under the cover of "exploration and discovery." From imperialists like Columbus to Hillary, the "conqueror" of Everest, from frontiersmen like Kit Carson to today's astronauts and dot com billionaires, these widely-admired celebrities leave trash on the moon, spill oil and raw sewage into Antarctic bays, and establish tragic legacies of exploitation. I remember being caught up in the cult of Shackleton in the 90s, like many others. This book shows him for the dysfunctional egomaniac that he was.
As this book reveals, the political history of the Antarctic epitomizes the destructive mechanisms of large-scale societies: the integration and synchronization of government, science, technology, media, education, and industry to further the exploitation of natural resources and disadvantaged populations for the enrichment of centralized elites.
One of the most tragic manifestations of this political juggernaut is still being played out in our schools and media. Just as in the early 20th century Boy Scouts were seduced and enlisted by Robert Byrd and his polar exploits, today's scientific establishment systematically seduces and recruits young people away from healthy, productive roles in their communities to the selfish, unhealthy glamour of exploration and discovery.
However, the book offers some lessons for the general reader if you can read between the lines. The author can't help but mention, with implicit disapproval, that a handful of nations with advanced seafaring technology (Norway prominent among them) have savagely, and often sadistically, plundered Antarctic wildlife on an unsustainable industrial scale, in greedy pursuit of corporate profits. They were the first Antarctic explorers and they continue today, and it's worth remembering that Antarctic science would never have happened without this brutal, large-scale destruction of wildlife as a context.
But the most important lesson of this book is the way in which it sheds light on a very destructive aspect of our contemporary culture and society: hero worship and the celebration of entrepreneurs, explorers and innovators. Although none of these men (Scott, Amundsen, Mawson, Byrd, etc.) are drawn in three dimensions, we can read between the lines and fill in their cultural contexts to recognize them as the dregs of humanity that they were.
Selfish and driven largely by testosterone, these paragons of male aggression abandon their families and communities, avoiding productive lives at home and pilfering wealth and other vital resources from their home communities so they can wreak destruction on distant habitats and populations under the cover of "exploration and discovery." From imperialists like Columbus to Hillary, the "conqueror" of Everest, from frontiersmen like Kit Carson to today's astronauts and dot com billionaires, these widely-admired celebrities leave trash on the moon, spill oil and raw sewage into Antarctic bays, and establish tragic legacies of exploitation. I remember being caught up in the cult of Shackleton in the 90s, like many others. This book shows him for the dysfunctional egomaniac that he was.
As this book reveals, the political history of the Antarctic epitomizes the destructive mechanisms of large-scale societies: the integration and synchronization of government, science, technology, media, education, and industry to further the exploitation of natural resources and disadvantaged populations for the enrichment of centralized elites.
One of the most tragic manifestations of this political juggernaut is still being played out in our schools and media. Just as in the early 20th century Boy Scouts were seduced and enlisted by Robert Byrd and his polar exploits, today's scientific establishment systematically seduces and recruits young people away from healthy, productive roles in their communities to the selfish, unhealthy glamour of exploration and discovery.
September 6, 2016
3.5 stars
This is an exhaustive (literally and figuratively) history of the continent of Antarctica from the days when it was only rumored to exist in the 1700s, up to the modern era when tourism is ever-present. If there was someone who made an effort to explore the continent, they're here, along with an extensive log of why and how they got to Antarctica and what they explored, named, and claimed.
While I learned a lot about explorers, both those I had learned about before, as well as others who I had never heard of, the most fascinating continuing "plot line" was the territory and name disputes. Of course, that was inevitable in the early days of exploring there, as guesstimation was the only way to go when sea ice was involved. And when reports took quite some time to be published, a land someone thinks they're discovering could have already been claimed or named--the report/discovery just wasn't published yet.
But when multiple people have claimed to have discovered the area in question, that means that it has multiple names, and fierce disagreement as to which name should be officially used. Only recently have names and places finally been internationally decided upon, and even then, there are still many places that are disputed between countries.
It's all quite fascinating stuff, and I enjoyed everything I learned, despite the tediousness of a 600 page book with no paragraph breaks to split up the chapter.
The reason for such a low rating?
There. Were. No. Maps.
This book needed maps. I had an extremely difficult time keeping track of who was exploring where on what route at what time. Even with the disputed names of places, just showing what part of Antarctica an explorer traversed and the approximate route they took would have been INCREDIBLY helpful. I have a huge coffee table book about the continent, with bios of explorers and maps of their routes, and found myself having to drag that out if I wanted to see where someone went and when. Which was not very practical.
However, this lack of maps certainly doesn't mean the info contained inside is any less informative and extensive. If you're interested in the history of exploration of Antarctica, I would recommend it, even if you just read a chapter or two on the people that interest you the most.
This is an exhaustive (literally and figuratively) history of the continent of Antarctica from the days when it was only rumored to exist in the 1700s, up to the modern era when tourism is ever-present. If there was someone who made an effort to explore the continent, they're here, along with an extensive log of why and how they got to Antarctica and what they explored, named, and claimed.
While I learned a lot about explorers, both those I had learned about before, as well as others who I had never heard of, the most fascinating continuing "plot line" was the territory and name disputes. Of course, that was inevitable in the early days of exploring there, as guesstimation was the only way to go when sea ice was involved. And when reports took quite some time to be published, a land someone thinks they're discovering could have already been claimed or named--the report/discovery just wasn't published yet.
But when multiple people have claimed to have discovered the area in question, that means that it has multiple names, and fierce disagreement as to which name should be officially used. Only recently have names and places finally been internationally decided upon, and even then, there are still many places that are disputed between countries.
It's all quite fascinating stuff, and I enjoyed everything I learned, despite the tediousness of a 600 page book with no paragraph breaks to split up the chapter.
The reason for such a low rating?
There. Were. No. Maps.
This book needed maps. I had an extremely difficult time keeping track of who was exploring where on what route at what time. Even with the disputed names of places, just showing what part of Antarctica an explorer traversed and the approximate route they took would have been INCREDIBLY helpful. I have a huge coffee table book about the continent, with bios of explorers and maps of their routes, and found myself having to drag that out if I wanted to see where someone went and when. Which was not very practical.
However, this lack of maps certainly doesn't mean the info contained inside is any less informative and extensive. If you're interested in the history of exploration of Antarctica, I would recommend it, even if you just read a chapter or two on the people that interest you the most.
March 3, 2014
Antarctic exploration has always been about politics and money, but in reading all the adventure stories we can easily overlook the truth. David Day brings the political and economic issues into sharp focus in this detailed history of the forces that continue to drive polar exploration. Sure, it can seem a bit dry, and the names of the many players will confuse, but it's an important book. Considering the current scramble for arctic claims, this well-documented and well-written history is a critical read for anyone interested in current geopolitical affairs, and will serve as an necessary corrective for those who read polar exploration for recreation.
December 6, 2015
It took me a long time to work my way through this book, in anticipation of my upcoming trip to Antarctica. I think I wanted to like it more on principle, but it didn't ever really capture my attention in the way other non-fiction books have. There were parts of the book I found fascinating, but others felt like I was reading a history textbook. Overall it was fine, and a good primer on the history of the 7th continent. I feel well prepared for my trip, but I wish it were slightly more interesting.
Read
March 17, 2014this long book taught me about how the countries now in Antarctica got there and especially the NZ US relationship, which plays out in Christchurch today. It showed me how the history of antarctica is very actively being played out today. I was annoyed when chapters started repeating what was in the previous chapter - perhaps each chapter was an article by itself originally?
May 24, 2017
A chronological reference work detailing the "Glacial pace of Antarctic diplomacy". Extremely detailed and well researched, but tough to get through. The complete lack of sketch maps was a missed opportunity to make the book more readable and give context to the names and places.
Want to read
January 29, 2013As seen in
Nature
.
Read
January 10, 2016Very, very thorough. Very.
(1 to 5); Readable: 2; Entertaining 2; Information: 5
(1 to 5); Readable: 2; Entertaining 2; Information: 5
April 3, 2017
This was a very detailed book and was difficult to get through especially in the latter chapters. However, I enjoyed most of it. I have been considering taking a cruise to the southern part of South America and Antarctica and this book provided me with good insights into Antarctica.
April 17, 2017
This book is exactly like Antarctica itself: it's big, it's daunting, and requires commitment to finish from end to end. But it's also extremely well-written and never uninteresting. I agree with some of the other comments here that a map would have been helpful, but I found David Day to be a terrific writer and an extremely thorough researcher. My own family was part of the Sandefjord whaling industry operating out of Stewart Island in New Zealand, so I especially enjoyed the chapters involving the Norwegian efforts in Antarctic exploration (every time I read "Vestfold Hills" a smile came to my face).
5 stars.
5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews