The Arctic - A History, by Richard Vaughan, focuses on the human inhabitants of the Arctic - a place that’s neither a continent nor a nation but one of the last contested lands on earth. Describing the history and culture of peoples who have struggled for generations for an existence in some of the most inhospitable areas of the world, and who now must struggle against the newer enemies of climate change and investment driven politics, Vaughan also looks at the impact of European, North American and Russian exploration and exploitation on the lives of indigenous peoples. The attempts to forge a trade route the the-north west or north-east passages, the effects of the whaling industry, the mining of coal and the drilling of oil, as well as the scientific and strategic importance of the Arctic are topics under consideration, in a book that will appeal to Polar enthusiast, and those interested in general history, anthropology and geography.