The Last Imaginary Place: A Human History of the Arctic World

Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Cloth, 296 pages, illustrations, maps; 24 cm. Tight, clean copy. First edition thus. Dust jacket protected in a mylar book cover. "The Arctic of towering icebergs and midnight sun, of flaming auroras and endless winter nights, has long provoked flights of the imagination. Now, in The Last Imaginary Place, renowned archeologist Robert McGhee lifts the veil to reveal the true Arctic world. Based on thirty years of work with native peoples of the Arctic and travel in the region, McGhee's account dispels notions of the frozen land as an exotic, remote world that exists apart from civilization. Between the frigid reality and lurid fantasy lies McGhee's true interest, the people who throughout human history have called the Arctic home. He paints a vivid portrait of Viking farmers, entrepreneurial Inuit, and Western explorers who have been seduced by the natural wealth and haunting beauty of this land. From lively accounts of fur trading, ivory hunting, and whaling to white-knuckle tales of the first, doomed expeditions, McGhee takes the reader on a whirlwind journey across this disorienting, dreamlike terrain that has fascinated mankind for centuries. / Robert McGhee is curator of Arctic archaeology at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa and the author of numerous books, including Ancient People of the Arctic and The Arctic Voyages of Martin Frobisher." - Publisher.. 1st. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 8vo. Collectible.