Antarctica: A Biography

Like Captain James Cook, I have been slowly circling the Antarctic.

While labouring on other books, the ice-covered continent kept

looming into view like an alluring mirage, suggesting itself as a

subject worthy of closer exploration. The chance to do so came after

I completed Conquest: How societies overwhelm others (2008),

which examined how so-called 'supplanting societies' claim territories

and make them their own over an extended period of time. It

was a new way of looking at the history of the world.