num_pages: 464
description: Winner of the National Book AwardThis bestselling, groundbreaking exploration of the Far North is a classic of natural history, anthropology, and travel writing.The Arctic is a perilous place. Only a few species of wild animals can survive its harsh climate. In this modern classic, Barry Lopez explores the many-faceted wonders of the Far North: its strangely stunted forest, its mesmerizing aurora borealis, its frozen seas. Musk oxen, polar bears, narwhal, and other exotic beasts of the region come alive through Lopez’s passionate and nuanced observations. And, as he examines the history and culture of the indigenous people, along with parallel narratives of intrepid, often underprepared and subsequently doomed polar explorers, Lopez drives to the heart of why the austere and formidable Arctic is also a constant source of breathtaking beauty, beguilement, and wonder.Written in prose as memorably pure as the land it describes, Arctic Dreams is a timeless mediation on the ability of the landscape to shape our dreams and to haunt our imaginations.
language: English
title: Arctic Dreams
titlecomplete: Arctic Dreams
genres: Environment, Science, Travel, Natural History, Nature, Science Nature, Nonfiction, Adventure, History, Memoir
ratings_count: 7963
places: Arctic Circle
awards: awardedAt: 504950400000
name: National Book Award
category: Nonfiction, awardedAt: 536486400000
name: Oregon Book Award
category: Nonfiction, awardedAt: 504950400000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
category: General Nonfiction
publisher: Vintage