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

It is probably a legacy of exploratory praxis, but there exists a long custom of Arctic scholars attempting to reach as wide a reading public as possible. While in many ways Robert McGhee's The Last Imaginary Place lies squarely within that tradition, it also undertakes an admirable recasting of the efforts of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Hugh Brody, or Farley Mowat. McGhee's previous books, discussing the indigenous peoples of the Arctic (Ancient People of the Arctic) and the Frobisher voyages (The Arctic Voyages of Martin Frobisher), have already demonstrated his supreme competence in presenting both archaeological and historical material for intelligent readerships. What McGhee, curator of arctic archaeology at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, is after here is nothing less than a circumpolar account of the different human histories of the Arctic.

McGhee's point of departure is that, whether by explorer, government official, or scientist, the social and environmental histories of the circumpolar region have been written by outsiders. This locates the central importance of the imaginary dimension in depictions of the Arctic. Despite excellent recent developments in indigenous film-making, it is this that, for McGhee, facilitates the continuing 'image of the Arctic as a world apart' (10). The consequences of this tyranny of representation for Arctic peoples and environments have been well documented, at least in the Canadian case, in recent work by scholars such as Sherill Grace and Renée Hulan. What is significant about McGhee's book is that his circumpolar emphasis is supplemented by his resolute stress upon the divergences and continuities between those who dwell in, and those who have travelled through, the region. Thus, as well as chapters reviewing the usual suspects of Arctic histories such as Franklin, Frobisher, and Peary, McGhee considers a variety of other cases. A fascinating chapter on the myths of the verdant north across a plethora of cultures, from Pytheas to Nietzsche, for example, concludes with an account of the intellectual connections between the Thule Society and Nazi political thought. Moreover, when discussing the indigenous peoples of Siberia, North America, Iceland, and Greenland, McGhee examines the cultural histories of the sometimes neglected Tuniit alongside those of the Inuit and Greenlandic Norse. In outlining the persistent trends of interaction and accommodation between human groups, therefore, McGhee confidently demonstrates his overall thesis: 'Change has always been a part of Arctic life' (271).

Throughout, McGhee's account is refreshing and engaging. Very few students of the Arctic have had the honesty to dispute the findings of their doctoral theses, as McGhee does in discarding the notion of the 'Thule migration' in response to climatic warming in favour of the discovery of iron in the Eastern Arctic (121–2). These aspects of the structure of the book are complemented by numerous references to McGhee's copious field experience in places as diverse as northern British Columbia, Lavrentia (Chukotka), and Cornwallis Island, which are skilfully woven into the narrative. These first-hand stories form only one of a number of strategies that attempt to attract an ecumenical readership. The chapters are short and accessible, although the writing is always accurate and succinct. The book is concluded with an annotated, if abbreviated, bibliography. The production is superb, with lavish colour photographs, often taken by McGhee or his colleagues during fieldwork, presented together with a number of historical maps and charts.

This is an enjoyable book that should accumulate a very broad readership while, at the same time, proving a critical pedagogic resource for courses on the history of the Arctic. There is simply no other book that presents this sort of introductory history of the human dimensions of the Arctic environment. With emergent trends in climatic change and socio-economic reorganization in the circumpolar region, it is through excellent accounts like this that Canadian historians will be able to contribute to the continuing challenges facing the peoples and environments of the Arctic.