Ebooks for the Classroom+Faculty

Lobsticks and Stone Cairns: Human Landmarks in the Arctic
ISBN: 9781552383902
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / University of Calgary Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Arctic regions -- Discovery and exploration; Arctic regions -- Biography;

In Lobsticks and Stone Cairns, over one hundred Arctic stories are told about adventurers, military officers, authors, guides, cultural heroes, police, traders, and even the occasional charlatan. While some of the biographies in the book are of people still active in the North, others tell stories from as far back as the sixteenth century. The subjects of the sketches are Inuit, European, American, Indian, and Canadian men and women. The exploits discussed in this generously illustrated book bring northern history and geography to life. Each profile is accompanied by a short bibliography. Lobsticks are trees that are used as markers. Above the tree-line, stone cairns are used in their place. It is hoped that these biographies of "human" landmarks will help you find your way around in the North and bring the Arctic just a little closer to home.

Richard C. Davis is professor emeritus of English at the University of Calgary. He has edited Rupert's Land: A Cultural Tapestry and Sir John Franklin's Journals and Correspondence: The First Arctic Land Expedition, 1819-22.