Frozen Empires

An Environmental History of the Antarctic Peninsula

By: Adrian Howkins

Narrated by: Charles Constant

Perpetually covered in ice and snow, the mountainous Antarctic Peninsula stretches southward toward the South Pole where it merges with the largest and coldest mass of ice anywhere on the planet. Yet far from being an otherworldly "Pole Apart", the region has the most contested political history of any part of the Antarctic Continent. Since the start of the 20th century, Argentina, Britain, and Chile have made overlapping sovereignty claims, while the United States and Russia have reserved rights to the entire continent. The environment has been at the heart of these disputes over sovereignty, placing the Antarctic Peninsula at a fascinating intersection between diplomatic history and environmental history.

In Frozen Empires, Adrian Howkins argues that there has been a fundamental continuity in the ways in which imperial powers have used the environment to support their political claims in the Antarctic Peninsula region.

©2017 Oxford University Press (P)2021 Tantor

A fascinating book, excellently narrated

Frozen Empires is a book of substance. Nothing trivial here. Author Howkins gives you the history of the Antarctic, and its exploration. Also it's politics of imperialism. And how dangerous environmental concerns were used as pawns in attempts to claim territorial advantage by various nations.. The exploration of the Antarctic and nearby lands reads like an adventure novel in the capable hands of this narrator, Mr Constant.

Not many narrators can make the subject of, for instance, geological formation, so intriguing. Not many can make the political warfare and clash of national interests so exciting.

This author and this narrator are perfectly matched. Especially when telling how open warfare almost came to pass when a party of British scientists was fired upon by Argentine troops who claimed the Brits were invading their territorial domain. And this was long before the Falklands War. Which itself is fascinating and complex. Competing claims by Russia, the US, Chili and Argentina are explained. The environmental damage being caused by global warming is related in tragic detail.

Constant researches foreign names and places, and his aim is unerringly true in pronouncing them. His mastery of the dialects of various nations is impeccable. The history of Antarctic as written by author Adrian Howkins, and narrated by Charles Constant, convey excitement and adventure.