For as long as its existence has been known, the frozen continent at the bottom of the world has variously been the much sought-after prize of explorers, scientists, conservationists and politicians; often at the same time. Thus to say that it is a storied place is to greatly understate the past two centuries of its history; a history that while the stuff of many legends and adventure tales is in its fascinating reality all-too-little known to most people. Fortunately, come this May, David Day’s ambitious book Antarctica: A Biography will be published by Oxford University Press so that all may discover the remarkable history of this most remarkable continent.

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