Antarctica: A History in 100 Objects: Jean de Pomereu: Conway

Antarctica

A History in 100 Objects

Antarctica

A History in 100 Objects

Description

This stunning and powerfully relevant book tells the history of Antarctica through 100 varied and fascinating objects drawn from collections around the world.

Retracing the history of Antarctica through 100 varied and fascinating objects drawn from collections across the world, this beautiful and absorbing book is published to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the first crossing into the Antarctic Circle by James Cook aboard Resolution, on 17th January 1773. It presents a gloriously visual history of Antarctica, from Terra Incognita to the legendary expeditions of Shackleton and Scott, to the frontline of climate change.

One of the wildest and most beautiful places on the planet, Antarctica has no indigenous population or proprietor. Its awe-inspiring landscapes – unknown until just two centuries ago – have been the backdrop to feats of human endurance and tragedy, scientific discovery, and environmental research. Sourced from polar institutions and collections around the world, the objects that tell the story of this remarkable continent range from the iconic to the exotic, from the refreshingly mundane to the indispensable:

- snow goggles adopted from Inuit technology by Amundsen
- the lifeboat used by Shackleton and his crew
- a bust of Lenin installed by the 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition
- the Polar Star aircraft used in the first trans-Antarctic flight
- a sealing club made from the penis bone of an elephant seal
- the frozen beard as a symbol of Antarctic heroism and masculinity
- ice cores containing up to 800,000 years of climate history

This stunning book is both endlessly fascinating and a powerful demonstration of the extent to which Antarctic history is human history, and human future too.

Introduction

1. World Map
2. Taoka
3. Chronometer
4. Commemorative Medal
5. Logbook
6. Fur Seal Clothing
7. Wood Block
8. Burial Monument
9. Magnetic Dip Circle
10. Sealing Club
11. Fish Specimen
12. Hut
13. Primus Stove
14. Harness
15. Gas Balloon
16. Rifle
17. Champagne
18. Aurora Australis
19. Anemometer
20. Canary
21. Eye Protection
22. Skis
23. Sponsorship Solicitation
24. Penguin Eggs
25. Camera
26. Pony Snowshoe
27. Black Flag
28. Fern Fossil
29. Diary
30. Half Sledge
31. Page from the Encyclopaedia Britannica
32. Banjo
33. James Caird
34. Memorial Cross
35. Radio Transmitter
36. Post Office Safe
37. Pemmican
38. Polar Star
39. Soap
40. Swastika Stake
41. Mittens
42. Suit
43. Sledge Wheel
44. Haori
45. Tractor
46. Dynamite
47. Statue
48. Kharkovchanka
49. Crevasse Detector
50. Treaty
51. Dog Fur Boots
52. Fuel Drums
53. Projection Reels
54. Radio Echo Sounder
55. Frozen Beard
56. Nuclear Reactor
57. Dog Cards
58. MS Lindblad Explorer
59. Meteorite
60. Pyramid Tent
61. Whale Skeleton
62. Board Game
63. Passport
64. Aeroplane Wreckage
65. Skidoo
66. Telephone
67. Dobson Spectrophotometer
68. Dinosaur Fossil
69. T-Shirt
70. JOIDES Resolution
71. Red Apple Hut
72. Penguin Taxidermy
73. Sledge
74. Geolocator
75. Shipping Container
76. South Pole Marker
77. Ice Core
78. Stellar Axis
79. ICESat
80. Hydroponic Vegetables
81. Telescope
82. Chapel
83. Optical Module
84. Patches
85. S.A. Agulhas II
86. Krill Oil Capsules
87. Pee Flag
88. Aquatic Rover
89. Weather Balloon
90, Swimsuit
91. Tide Gauge
92. Wedding Dress
93. Microplastic
94. Douglas DC-3
95. Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
96. D-Air Lab Antarctic Suit
97. Shipwreck
98. Trowel
99. Notebook
100. Pier

Conclusion
100 Antarctica Books
Acknowledgements
Index

Product details

Published	27 Oct 2022
Format	Hardback
Edition	1st
Extent	224
ISBN	9781844866212
Imprint	Conway
Illustrations	Beautiful colour and rare archive photography throughout
Dimensions	246 x 189 mm
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Like Antarctica itself, this 'History in 100 Objects' is unpredictable and compelling. Generous - yet partial, skidding over vast surfaces, digging into detail. Read it all at once: or select at leisure.

Meredith Hooper
From the Aurora Australis to the weather balloon, authors Daniella McCahey and Jean de Pomereu have assembled a beautifully curated collection of objects pertaining to Antarctica. As they note, so poignantly, Antarctica is not one thing.

Klaus Dodds
Reading this book is like being in a very large polar museum with two expert and amusing companions as your guides. Compiled by a historian and an artist, Antarctica: A History in 100 Objects takes its reader on a tour of human engagement with the far south that is by turns educative, playful, poignant, ridiculous and disturbing, but always knowledgeably explained and illustrated. While some objects might be readily anticipated (sledges, diaries, maps), others will likely be a surprise (a canary, a wedding dress, a nuclear reactor). Ranging in scale from ships to krill-oil capsules, encompassing both the other-worldly (a meteorite) and the mundane (soap, a T-shirt), the objects demonstrate the national and cultural diversity of human encounter with the ice continent. While the book skips with delightful eclecticism between different periods, put together the object descriptions comprise a well-rounded introduction to the issues and events that have shaped human encounter with the far south. Readers who know little about the place will find it an excellent way into the continent, and 'Antarctic tragics' will enjoy the unexpected and sometimes surreal details that accompany every object.

Elizabeth Leane
Jean de Pomereu and Daniellie McCahey's handsome survey takes in the world's most remote region...illustrating in colour not just the selected objects, but accompanying painting, photographs and further examples.

The Telegraph
Tells the story of Antarctica through 100 objects from collections around the world...fascinating.

Daily Mirror
De Pomereu and McCahey's handsomely illustrated work examines the history of Antarctic expedition through famous and lesser-known objects. From crevasse detectors...to the whale skeleton assembled by conservationist Jacques Cousteau...it's filled with fascinating snapshots.

Hannah Beckerman, The Observer