Friis, Herman R.

English

University of Calgary Journal Hosting

REVIEWS 77 to solve the problem of how the “squashed human beings” can handle the new possi- bilities and new problems presented to  them by the machine. The  author suggests the social animation  approach as a possible solution. Professor Lotz also points out that there is the problem of culture contact. If mean- ingful development is to  occur in the  North then the lack of understanding among the whites of the realities of Indian life must be corrected. He suggests that scientific re- search,  education, and recreation  might offer a solution to the problem. The  author also indicates that even though the vast geographic space of the North and the Yukon is possible to compress by tech- nology, the social, cultural, and psychological problems of the people still exist and the ‘management of space still poses a problem. He suggests a new settlement pattern  for the Yukon as a possible solution. He concludes Part  Three by discussing The Real  Resource  in northern development. He indicates that if the resources of the North  are  to be developed, then the people who  inhabit  the  North must be able to accept change which will be beneficial not only to society but also to themselves. In order to operationalize  this concept, Lotz suggests that if a university that is research oriented is established in  the Yukon, it could collect and disseminate knowledge, and  such in- formation would ease the “stress of change”. In  the general conclusions, the  author discusses the  future of the Yukon Territory from a humanistic point of view. To com- plete the book, an excellent bibliography on the north is included. Clearly, the  author  has achieved his objec- tive of analyzing northern development, in terms of the Yukon Territory, from a hu- manistic point of view. Methodologically he has achieved his objective, but he has done so in an awkward fashion. In the first two parts of the book he has used a historical approach incorporating responses from peo- ple at  all levels involved in the development process. Whereas, in the third part of the book, the flow  of thought becomes somewhat entangled with a complex set of concepts related to social change (p. 170), and space (p. 211). But, the  author still manages to incorporate the responses of the people to emphasize a point in time in the develop- ment process. Professor Lotz, who  had previous employ- ment in the federal administration for six years, first as a community planning officer for  the  Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources, and then as a research officer, is highly critical throughout  the book of the  federal government’s development policies. In  the first two  parts he  offers  to  the reader his ideas (pp, 83, 91, and 163) on such policies. In the third part of the book he suggests concrete ideas which can be applied in the planning and development in  the Yukon. For example,  his  idea of a university in the North (pp. 243-249) and his redevel- opment  plan for  the Dawson  region (pp. 257-273) are imaginative and  at  the same time practical. Some  minor criticisms follow: A statement on page 35 indicates that the “Territory is most easily accessible where there is least need for it - in  the  remote sparsely popu- lated and resource-poor northeast”. To  date, that  part of the  Yukon  can  only  be reached comfortably by air  transport. Map 1, The Yukon Territory, is an atrocious  map. It lacks a scale, source and legend. In fact  one real1,y questions its purpose. Similarly, maps 2 and 3 lack a scale and legend but their saving grace is that they relate to the text. In total, the book is written  in a vivid journalistic manner which aids in emphasiz- ing the humanistic  element in  orthern planning and development. It should  interest a wide audience which should include the federal administration, community planners, and all Canadians who  are interested in the North. P .  M .  Koroscil TO THE ARCTIC! THE STORY OF NORTHERN  EXPLORATION  FROM EARLIEST  TIMES  TO THE PRESENT. BY JEANNETTE MIRSKY. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970. 9% x 6% inches, 334 pages, illustrations and maps. $10.00. First published in 1934, this book was re- issued in 1948 and again reissued with cor- rections and additions in 1970. The author, with verve and excellent composition, de- scribes the highlights of the history of many of the principal voyages in and land  explora- tions of the Arctic up to about 1932. Miss Mirsky has given us a readable  account, based on a very considerable  volume of literature. The history of “. . . northern exploration from earliest times to the present” is told in 21 chapters  totalling 319 pages or an average of about 15 pages per chapter. Such a work has of necessity required a very large amount of compacting of information and judicious selection of the really significant elements or events and contributions. Miss Mirsky has accomplished this rather well and has told 78 REVIEWS the story nicely as a smoothly-connected sequence of historical  facts. The chapters are titled for  the series of events or subjects they portray. So, for example, there is “VII. Hudson and His  Strait; Baffin and  His Bay”; “XI.  Franklin’s  Last Voyage”; “XVI. Laying a Ghost: The Jeannette and  the Fram.” The author has made a good selection of relevant illustrations, some 31  in  all, and  has included 8 well-drawn, simple, clear, useful maps, though there are misspellings on several (as for example on page 216 J.  P. Kock for J. P. Koch; Cape Morris Jessup on page 216 and Cape Morris Jesup on page 233). The serious  reader of this  book  should be and will be aware of a  number of major deficiencies. The title of the book is very misleading because the information therein carries the story  only to the 1930’s and certainly not to “. . . the Present.” Why on  the dust jacket of the book is the Statement made that exploration is carried to the mid-1940’s when actually the most  recent dates cover at best very superficially the Russians at  the  North Pole in 1937-1938 (pages 302 and 303); very briefly the 1932 and 1933 U.S.S.R. Northern Sea Route ex- peditions (pages 279 and 280); and a few other very short discussions of expeditions of the  early 1930’s? These few abstract notes, mainly about Russian activities in the Arctic in the 1930’s hardly justify considering the contents of the book as extending beyond 1931 or 1932. So much has been done since 1931 that several volumes could easily be written about it. This reviewer wonders why the few references to the 1930’s are nearly all  to Russian activities and  ocly incidentally to  these of other nations. In  the preface to  her 1948 edition (p. xxiii) Miss Mirsky notes: “. . . I have read my way through volumes that, if stood side by side, must be measured in city blocks . . .” Since each city block is on  an average  about 500 feet in length and “blocks” is plural we can quickly compute that this  amounts to  at least 1000 feet or nearly a fifth of a mile! This is a surprising accomplishment, far more than most authors could aspire to or would dare to undertake. It is not so much quantity of sources  as  quality of sources that is important. This leads me  to  be very critical because under References (pages 329-334) only 89 different references of the “city blocks” of volumes read are listed. A Note  at  the beginning of the section of references says  “The following references do not  constitute a complete  bibliography of all the source material on which this work is based, but are merely a list of those books from which quotations have been taken as indicated by the superior figures at the end of each quotation . . .” (page 329). It would seem that a book of this  magnitude, covering such a full sweep of history, should include a comprehensive bibliography, if for  no  other reason than  to give the serious  reader an opportunity to refer to those citations. Nearly all of the references included are the long- time standard sources for which the copy- right has long sicce expired; there really is none that is new and significant. All but one of the references are in English, yet there is a  large reservoir of excellent literature in other languages that ought to be tapped in the preparation of a book  such as this. I am a bit  concerned  about the incom- pleteness of the bibliographic structure and inaccuracy of some of the references. For example, Emma DeLong: The  Voyage of the Jeannette, . . . is shown as one volume published in 1884, but there really are two volumes, volume two published in 1883 and volume one published in 1884. In Chapter XX, for-example, the relatively few quota- tions are referenced in order of appearance in the text as 1, 2, 6, 3, 4, 5,  8 and 7. This is a bit unorthodox since the universally ac- cepted practice is to number in arithmetic sequence. On page 334 at the top there are listed seven books numbered  in order 1 through 7. There is no number 8! Numbers 1 through 5 in the text appear to refer quite properly to  the  appropriate source of the quote,  though  the author gives no specific page number. There is some question as to whether quotation number 6 in the text is from  tumber 2, the  Parry expedition of 1827, or the Phipps expedition of 1773. The source listed in References (page 334) as 7 is Frederick  A. Cook‘s Attainment of the Pole . . ., 1911, and the quotation seems to fit this  source  but the page quoted is not given. However, on page 300 preceding the quotation  umber 7 are  three quotations (rather obviously from Cook above) but they are numbered 8. The  careful reader finds that there is no number 8 reference, there is only 7. Obviously this section has not been carefully edited because there are other ex- amples of the numbers of the quotations failing to tally with the references. Another shortcoming: the author does not give the pages in the reference books from which the quotations  have been taken. In addition I have searched out some dozen or more quotations and  found  errors in transcription. For example, Miss Mirsky on page 296 quotes from Vilhjalmur Stefansson: The Friendly Arctic, New York, 1921: “. . . For, as Stefansson points out, Peary ‘developed a method by which anyone of REVIEWS 79 good  health,  sound  judgement and a reasonable  apprenticeship in  polar work could reach the Pole or any other point no  farther removed from  the nearest  land than five or six hundred miles . . .’ ” In Stefansson’s The Friendly Arctic, 1921, reprinted  in 1925, the quotation on page 6 is “. . . When Peary was able to reach the Pole  he laid  down a system by which  any- one of good health, sound judgement and a reasonable apprenticeship in polar work can reach it, starting from the same base on the north coast of Grant Land . . .” It would appear  that  the  paragraph quoted in Miss Mirsky’s book is her selection of passages from twu paragraphs on page 6;  if that is so, it  cannot be a direct  quotation. If space would permit I could cite other instances of misquotations and misrepresen- tations. Thus this reviewer can  only conclude that  the book  lacks the fundamental  require- ments of good scholarship. The title is un- forgiveably misleading, and  the apthor’s generous use of quotations  without the specifics of documentation or source is not an acceptable  practice;  it is a bit  like saying “Mr. Smith lives in the Arctic,  now it’s up  to you to  find him”. What  an unnecessary chore! All this is very regrettable, because otherwise the book is well and interestingly written. Herman R.  Friis 

To the Arctic! The Story of Northern Exploration from Earliest Times to the Present, by Jeannette Mirsky

https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/download/66359/50272

To the Arctic! The Story of Northern Exploration from Earliest Times to the Present, by Jeannette Mirsky

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

University of Calgary Journal Hosting