Annals of the Arctic

Abstract

THE word “Conquest” with regard either to exploration or research seems to postulate an antagonism between man and Nature, and it is perhaps a mistake to allow such an ‘evil dream’ to colour one's view. Although the pioneers of polar travel had to meet great difficulties and to undergo hardships which it required heroism to face, the knowledge they acquired should have taught those who followed that success awaited the men who took advantage of existing conditions rather than those who fought against forces they could not control. The belief that a fighting rather than a conciliatory spirit best suited an explorer is no longer justified; but writers and publishers of works on exploration apparently find the warlike phrase agreeable to public taste.

Northern Conquest: the Story of Arctic Exploration from Earliest Times to the Present.

By Jeannette Mirsky. Pp. xx + 386 + 16 plates. (London: Hamish Hamilton, Ltd., 1934.) 15s. net.

The Conquest of the North Pole: Recent Arctic Exploration.

By J. Gordon Hayes. Pp. 317 + 16 plates. (London: Thornton Butterworth, Ltd., 1934.) 18s. net.