Review by Choice Review
Brunner, a writer, historian, and lecturer, opens his exploration of the invention of North as a conceptual category with a glimpse into the long-lost cabinet of wonders of the Danish polymath Ole Worm. Worm's curiosity cabinet, with its jumble of rocks, plants, antlers, the tusk of a narwhal, and a stuffed great auk, is an appropriate starting point for Brunner's linear narrative of how this region played a role in the imaginings of the North as an alternative locus for the origins of human knowledge and culture. Moving at a rapid clip through fairly complex historical and social movements, Brunner traces how the North became increasingly laden with highly speculative philosophical baggage concerning the origins of mankind and culture. Side trips take readers through the supposed discovery of Norse mythology, the unusual pseudo-archaeology that insisted the lost city of Atlantis could be found in these northern realms, and the persistent search for a Northwest Passage. The book builds toward Brunner's confrontation with the legacies of abhorrent racial theories and eugenics, including a masterful critique of the Nazi appropriation of the North as a locus for the "Aryan race." Summing Up: Recommended. General readers through graduate students. --Timothy R Tangherlini, University of California, Berkeley
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Historian Brunner (Taming Fruit) explores "the North" as a place "both real and imaginary" in this captivating and wide-ranging account. He notes that ancient Greeks and Romans viewed the North as "a realm of cold and darkness, devoid of sunlight and inimical to life," and documents how histories of the fall of Rome and ninth-century Viking attacks on Constantinople and Paris gave rise to the image of Nordic peoples as "fearsome barbarians." Explorers' accounts and trade in cod, whale blubber, amber, and other commodities gradually changed the image of the North, and in the 18th- and 19th-century, many German and English poets, composers, and philosophers came to view the North as an "imagined homeland." (William Morris, a leader of the arts and crafts movement, went so far as to teach himself Icelandic.) Brunner also delves into 18th-century Scottish poet James Macpherson's Works of Ossian, which he falsely attributed to a "third-century Scottish bard," and French novelist Joseph Arthur de Gobineau's racist ideas about the "Aryan" north, which helped fuel anti-Semitism in Europe and the U.S. Erudite yet accessible, and packed with intriguing arcana, this cultural history fascinates. (Feb.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
German historian Brunner's (Taming Fruit) latest work is a riveting survey of the intellectual and cultural history of "The North." Broadly exploring events from prehistory to the present, Brunner also crisscrosses a wonderfully diverse number of disciplines, including geography, climatology, literature and folklore, and political sociology. Beginning with the concept of the "North," Brunner focuses on the Arctic Region: the North Pole, Scandinavia, Greenland, Iceland, Russia, and Canada. In an academic but engaging tone, Brunner describes how the lore of the North was often shaped by people who never actually visited the region and how it is often difficult to distinguish actual events from mythologization and appropriation. Brunner shows how some tried to use the North and its people to further the concept of a superior white race while marginalizing other groups like Jewish and Inuit people. VERDICT Jonathan Yen's confident delivery and masterful pronunciations of the many non-English terms draw listeners into Brunner's descriptions of the almost magical beauty of the far North, while his expressive readings of the racist and pseudoscientific perversions of the region (by Nazis and other white supremacists) will stay with listeners long after the audiobook has ended.--Beth Farrell
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An investigation of the cultural history and mythology of "the North," which "represents a space both real and imaginary." German historian Brunner begins by explaining the concept of the North; where it begins is "in the eye of the beholder." Depending on where you live--North America, Europe, Africa, etc.--your concept of the North will vary. As with the South, Brunner asserts, "over time," the North "has also become layered with cultural and political meanings, baggage even." In an engaging, sometimes academic tone, the author analyzes how the idea of the North has evolved over the centuries. Among the many topics he explores are early European fears of Viking raids, the effects of the European obsession with finding a northwest passage to China, and Norse myths and fairy tales. Stories of fierce Vikings continue to fire the imagination despite the fact that "we have only the flimsiest evidence of how men and women of Viking times might have looked." As demand for products such as whale blubber, cod, and narwhal ivory grew, writes Brunner, the image of the Nordic people shifted from "fearsome barbarians to trustworthy merchants with whom good business could be done." However, acts of barbarism toward Indigenous populations beginning in the 16th century forever changed their lives. "It was only in the late nineteenth century that Westerners began to develop even a rudimentary understanding of Inuit culture," and the Inuit were but one among many northern peoples the Europeans encountered. During this time, scientists and romantic travelers also had an increasing interest in seeing the North as opposed to merely reading about it. Yet another shift came following World War I, with an increase in writings related to racial science, which described a "superior" branch of humanity and "channeled interest in the North in an ominous new direction." Today, writes the author, "the mythical North remains very much in currency," continuing to inspire writers, environmentalists, politicians, and adventurers. A fascinating and historically disturbing journey through an intriguing land of mystery and legend. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
