Extreme North

"Extreme North is an icily bewitching panorama of the dreams and fears, the fascination and the danger of the snowy limits of civilization. In these fantasies and travel accounts, ancient legends, and wild projections, we become spectators of the age-old dance between life and landscape of Nordic climes on the one hand, and human longing on the other." - Philipp Blom, author of Nature’s Mutiny

"Extreme North takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the ‘North’ as it has been seen from the outside through time – alien or coarse to some, noble and civilized to others, but always different. Brunner draws on an eclectic mixture of sources, from early maps and travel narratives to heavy metal, and his erudite, engaging book is indispensable for understanding the cultural status of the North today." - Jóhanna Katrín Fri?riksdóttir, author of Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World

"From the Ultima Thule of antiquity to the practices of the north's Indigenous peoples, to stoic, Kierkegaardian faith, and on to the racial fantasies about the north's white peoples, Bernd Brunner's imaginative yet critical exploration of the circumpolar region weaves together the many, often contradictory, images and ideas that have come together in writings and images of the top of the globe. It should be read by the curious, student and scholar alike." - Andrew K. Nestingen, author of Crime and Fantasy in Scandinavia

"Bernd Brunner’s Extreme North is a gripping and highly original history of how encounters with northerly landscapes and peoples have shaped Europe’s perception of itself. Beautifully written and deeply evocative, this is history that is in equal parts whimsical and disturbing. Brunner shows how scientific curiosity and the pursuit of adventure collided with malign theories of racial superiority, attributed to a myth of northern descent. At a moment when our collective future is increasingly bound to the fate of the polar regions, Extreme North could not be more timely." - Sunil Amrith, author of Unruly Waters

"An intrepid researcher and writer, Bernd Brunner takes readers on a journey through time and space and into the minds of countless many who had something profound to say about the northernmost reaches of the globe. The journey is sometimes shocking, always fascinating, and surely worth taking." - Jack Davis, author of The Gulf