Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia (review)

The most recent contribution to encyclopedias dedicated to Arctic and Antarctic histories is William James Mills's Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia. Evaluating an encyclopedia is a particularly challenging task for one individual. As such, I chose to approach my review from the perspective of someone with little or no knowledge of the subject. Mills's intent in Polar Frontiers is to 'provide a book that will [Begin Page 173] serve as an introduction to new readers and as an informavtive [sic] resource for others already familiar with the subject' (xlv). Although there are a few problems, Mills achieves his goal.

In his introduction, Mills comments on the organization of previous encyclopedias on this subject and provides his rationale for ordering his entries alphabetically as opposed to chronologically or geographically. Initially this ordering struck me as counterintuitive, but, after reading only a few pages, I appreciated Mills's choice, because an alphabetic ordering illustrates the connectedness of the two polar regions, whereas a geographical ordering may inappropriately convey a false separation of those involved in Arctic and Antarctic exploring. Roald Amundsen's entry exemplifies the involvement of many explorers and the application of lessons learned, often at the North Pole, in Antarctic exploration. Amundsen explored both polar regions, and much of the success of his South Polar expedition (1910-12) drew upon his experience in the Arctic and knowledge gained from the Inuit during the period 1903-6.

Mills's entries are well written and humorous, and I found his References and Further Reading and See Also sections at the end of most entries particularly useful in providing greater understanding of certain topics and a departure point for further research. His See Also sections will be particularly valuable in the ebook format, as each entry will be linked to others: a feature I imagine many users will find quite useful. Many of his entries include spectacular photographs of old maps, ships trapped in ice, and bleak landscapes. One in particular I found myself returning to was an image from Alfred Ritscher's secret expedition to Antarctica sponsored by Adolph Hitler, in which he and two team members are displaying the Nazi flag.

Canadian coverage in Polar Frontiers is fairly good, encompassing major explorers and important events. In particular I found the account of Jane Franklin, second wife of John Franklin, interesting. Her petitioning for expeditions in search of her husband is an aspect to the Franklin Expedition I was never aware of and is an important element of women's history in the exploration of the Arctic.

Although Polar Frontiers is a valuable contribution to the topic of polar history, the work suffers from several problems. One of the biggest is the lack of entries on Aboriginal people, both past and present. Many entries indicate the importance Aboriginal peoples played, yet 'Inuit' is not found as an entry, only 'Inuit Contribution to Polar Exploration.' Additionally, no Artic prehistory can be found. Although Polar Frontiers is a historical encyclopedia, short entries on Aboriginal occupation in the Arctic would help contextualise the history of what became, largely, European exploration of this region. More fundamentally, the lack of inclusion of Aboriginal peoples as separate entries in a work dedicated to polar exploration implies that 'exploration' is a uniquely European phenomenon. This could have been corrected by including entries on the Inuit, Thule, and Dorset, to name only a few. Another problem with Polar Frontiers is the curious lack of 'Arctic' as an entry. A definition of this basic term should have been included to delineate the geographical regions and provide some comment on its environments and histories.

Despite these problems, for those interested in Artic and Antarctic research Polar Frontiers provides a good introduction and, with the list of further readings provided at the end of entries, a solid departure point for researching...