Land of Wondrous Cold: The Race to Discover Antarctica and Unlock the Secrets of Its Ice

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A gripping history of the polar continent, from the great discoveries of the nineteenth century to modern scientific breakthroughs.]

Antarctica, the ice kingdom hosting the South Pole, looms large in the human imagination. The secrets of this vast frozen desert have long tempted explorers, but its brutal climate and glacial shores notoriously resist human intrusion.Land of Wondrous Coldtells a gripping story of the pioneering nineteenth-century voyages, when British, French, and American commanders raced to penetrate Antarctica's glacial rim for unknown lands beyond. These intrepid Victorian explorers James Ross, Dumont D'Urville, and Charles Wilkes laid the foundation for our current understanding ofTerra Australis Incognita.

Today, the white continent poses new challenges, as scientists race to uncover Earth's climate history, which is recorded in the south polar ice and ocean floor, and to monitor the increasing instability of the Antarctic ice cap, which threatens to inundate coastal cities worldwide. Interweaving the breakthrough research of the modern Ocean Drilling Program with the dramatic discovery tales of their Victorian forerunners, Gillen D'Arcy Wood describes Antarctica's role in a planetary drama of plate tectonics, climate change, and species evolution stretching back more than thirty million years. An original, multifaceted portrait of the polar continent emerges, illuminating our profound connection to Antarctica in its past, present, and future incarnations.

A deep-time history of monumental scale,Land of Wondrous Coldbrings the remotest of worlds within close reach an Antarctica vital to both planetary history and human fortunes.

'When we think of Antarctic exploration we think of Scott, Shackleton and Mawson and the tragic golden age of polar exploration. But, as environmentalist Gillen D'Arcy Wood reveals there was a first wave in the late 1830s and '40s. His tale revolves around the voyages of French, American and English explorers Jules Dumant d'Urville, Charles Wilkes and James Ross, all involved in an intensely competitive race to Antarctica. Their stories are touched by triumph and tragedy, the uplifting and the poignant with D'Arcy Wood's descriptions of his subjects and the natural world, evocative and vivid whales 'grazing on the algal film of the ocean's surface like cattle on a meadow'. Woven into this is the history of the region, scientific discoveries, glaciation and climate change, a balancing act D'Arcy Wood carries off with creative poise.' Sydney Morning Herald, Pick of the Week

Reviews

"Evocative and vivid."---Steven Carroll, Sydney Morning Herald
"Gripping and informative to the last page."---Nick Smith, The Explorers Journal
"Like Antarctica itself: dynamic and unexpected, but always fascinating."---Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine
"Cold begone! Here be wonders. . . . [Wood] approaches Antarctica with refreshing breeziness."---Fergus Fleming, Literary Review
"Three nations sent expeditions to the Antarctic in the late 1830s and early 1840s. This fascinating account describes their members heroism and often disastrous experiences without ignoring the significant discoveries that followed. . . . Outstanding history accompanied by outstanding popular science." * Kirkus, starred review *
"Woods approach links exploration and scientific study, showing how researchers have followed in the footstepssometimes literallyof trailblazing Antarctic adventurers. Moreover, the vulnerability of those early explorers, with their wooden ships and primitive equipment, reminds Wood of our collective vulnerability today to planetary systems shifting under the pressure of climate change."---Marissa Grunes, Boston Review
"A masterful means of emplacing Antarctica and the history of science in deep time: an urgent concern in our moment of climate crisis."---Alexis Rider, Polar Journal
"In a book that is both science and adventure story, Land of Wondrous Cold weaves together the human and natural history of the Antarctic by connecting early Victorian explorers and their discoveries with ancient and modern geological findings."---Midge Raymond, EcoLit Books
"[A] superb account."---Nick Smith, Engineering & Technology
"Gripping and informative to the last page."---Dr Alyson Hitch, Bay Magazine
"The book recounts the stories of . . . rival expeditions in relation to each other in vivid detail, bringing out the various personalities involved." * Paradigm Explorer *
"Land of Wondrous Cold blew me away with its clever twin narrative. Readers interested in polar exploration, science history, earth sciences, or deep-time history should all take note. This book is far more interesting and satisfying than a casual glance might suggest."---Leon Vlieger, The Inquisitive Biologist

Author Bio

Gillen DArcy Wood is professor of environmental humanities at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he serves as associate director of the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and the Environment. He is the author of Tambora: The Eruption That Changed the World (Princeton). Originally from Australia, he lives in Urbana, Illinois, with his wife and two children.