The Future History of the Arctic

Discovery Magazine
“As the Arctic thaws, nations around the globe are jockeying for access to its mineral resources and potentially lucrative new shipping routes. With considerable on-site reporting, Emmerson surveys the environmental and geopolitical changes under way.”

National Interest
“Charles Emmerson’s The Future History of the Arctic has the strongest narrative of the three [books on the Arctic] because his is most firmly grounded in a knowledge of the region’s past.”

E, the Environmental magazine
“This new vision of the Arctic, as a site of exploitation and source of political conflict, is chilling indeed.”

Spectator
“Charles Emmerson has written a superb book, which seamlessly intertwines travelogue, history and jargon-free analysis… The Future History of the Arctic is as reviving as a blast of polar air, bringing the Arctic into wonderfully clear focus; one of the most impressive accounts of the contemporary Arctic I’ve read.”

The Financial Times“Emmerson marshals a wealth of disparate material to sketch a region in transition… This is an excellent primer to the economic issues of a region so recently and rudely thrust into the geopolitical limelight.”

Winnipeg Free Press

The Guardian, April 18, 2010
“Emmerson produces the most comprehensive analysis… All three are to be commended for their crisp, easily digestible prose, for their clarity and for their avoidance of sentimentality or over-obsessive attention to detail.” Globe & Mail, June 7, 2010
“Charles Emmerson's The Future History of the Arctic is a much broader survey of the international Arctic, written to dispel European myths of a tranquil kingdom, with strong sections on Russia, Greenland and Iceland.” Center for a New American Security Natural Security blog, July 13, 2010

“Emmerson's book is very well researched and certainly educates the reader on the cold, long-ignored region to the north. Its premise that the Arctic will soon be a global hotspot comes through loud and clear.”

Seattle Times“Thought-provoking… Will science, stewardship and cooperation win out over self-serving politics and economic demands? [Emmerson] warns, ‘We can no longer deal with the Arctic as we would wish it to be — in the future, we will have to deal with the Arctic as it is.’ His book provides a good primer for understanding that future.”

The Scotsman“It’s easy to romanticise the Arctic, and over the years plenty of authors have. Oddly though, given the region's increasing geopolitical significance, it's rare to find books that treat it as something other than a chilly adventure playground or an excuse for reams of purple prose. Thank goodness, then, for Charles Emmerson. In this book he looks at how the frozen north has played a key role in world affairs in the past and how it could prove more important in the years to come.”

Irish Times“Definitive yet highly readable, this book will be an absorbing read for anyone with an interest in geopolitics and world affairs.”

Irish Examiner

“This book makes it clear that in the immediate future, as well as being an environmental barometer for the planet, the Arctic could also be a source of future political and military conflict. For pointing out these possibilities, this book deserves to be read.”

The Guardian“Emmerson produces the most comprehensive analysis… All three are to be commended for their crisp, easily digestible prose, for their clarity and for their avoidance of sentimentality or over-obsessive attention to detail.”

Energy-Musings.com, June 8, 2010
“The Future History of the Arctic is well researched and written. It is based on extensive interviews conducted by the author that provide information supporting the book’s themes he explores. The book is an easy way to grasp the significant issues and their context that have shaped and are continuing to shape the politics of the Arctic – one of the last great energy frontiers remaining on the planet. While the current U.S. offshore drilling moratorium is a setback for Alaska drilling, the issue of what drilling and how it is done in the Arctic region – in the U.S., Canada, Russia, Norway, Greenland and Iceland – will become front page news in the not too distant future. We urge you to consider adding Mr. Emmerson’s book to your summer reading list.”