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POLAR FRONTIERS: A Background Book on the Arctic, the Antarctic, and Mankind by Richard Lyttle

POLAR FRONTIERS: A Background Book on the Arctic, the Antarctic, and Mankind

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Pub Date: Oct. 15th, 1972
Publisher: Parents' Magazine Press

Whole books (some of them listed here in the selective bibliography) have been written on each of the topics Lyttle compresses into two, rather poorly integrated, essays on the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Students who want to read as few pages as possible will appreciate the concise, up-to-date treatment of polar explorations, Eskimo culture, whale hunting, polar science, and wildlife; though anyone who expects to find usable background on such contemporary issues as the Amchitka nuclear test or the Alaska pipeline will surely be disappointed by the sketchy summaries, which don't really explain the objections of ecology-minded opponents and end with dutifully optimistic taglines such as ""If the pipeline controversy is typical of future Arctic proposals, the wasteful days of Arctic boom and bust are over."" In fact, it's hard to point to any one area in which Lyttle distinguishes himself; however, he does manage to keep a step ahead of the encyclopedia.