The Future History of the Arctic
The second point of interest is the oxymoron in the title: The Future History of The Arctic. It is a deliberate contradiction in terms. The reality is that the author calls on many disciplines to explain what to many of us is still a distant and barren part of this planet. As well as history, we have geography, geology, ecology, economics, politics and no small amount of philosophy.
The author is described as an expert on geopolitics and his book has been endorsed by several significant figures such as former EU commissioner and chancellor of Oxford University Chris Patten and Nicholas Stern, author of an important report on the economic implications of climate change. Although born in Australia and brought up in Britain, the name Emmerson also reveals a Swedish family connection. This connection is developed by the author as he opens the book with an account of a family holiday in Sweden when he was seven years old.
