Résumé

With a flair for interpreting present-day problems and environmental changes against a vast backdrop beginning with the 19th-century age of seafaring discovery, Wood (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) adeptly mediates between past and present. Aside from demonstrating his creative skills as a writer, this work is all the more welcome for its distinguished scholarship. While focusing mainly on the fierce rivalry among the French, British, and American expeditions of the 1840s, Wood successfully bridges the huge gulf between that time and the present, recounting discoveries of modern scientists that document the effects of global warning on the Antarctic ice cap. Wood's examination of prior human perceptions of Antarctica in the days of sail, juxtaposed with contemporary appreciation and warnings about what the future may hold, adds up to a marvelously engaging work. It is no easy feat to pass between the Victorian era and the present. Current ocean drilling programs, studies of plate tectonics, glacial erosion, and paleontological discoveries provide detailed substance, even verve, to Wood's text. Production quality, too, is of the highest order. Including a thorough, up-to-date bibliography and serviceable index, this work provides valuable insight into the present problems of a remembered world that is physically passing into memory.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. General readers.• Reviewer: B. M. Gough, emeritus, Wilfrid Laurier University