Extreme North A Cultural History

Scholars and laymen alike have long projected their fantasies onto the great expanse of the global North, whether it be as a frozen no-man's-land, an icy realm of marauding Vikings, or an unspoiled cradle of prehistoric human life. Bernd Brunner reconstructs the encounters of adventurers, colonists, and indigenous communities that led to the creation of a northern "cabinet of wonders" and imbued Scandinavia, Iceland, and the Arctic with a perennial mystique.

Like the mythological sagas that inspired everyone from Wagner to Tolkien, Extreme North explores both the dramatic vistas of the Scandinavian fjords and the murky depths of a Western psyche obsessed with Nordic whiteness. In concise but thoroughly researched chapters, Brunner highlights the cultural and political fictions at play from the first "discoveries" of northern landscapes and stories, to the eugenicist elevation of the "Nordic" phenotype (which in turn influenced America's limits on immigration), to the idealization of Scandinavian social democracy as a post-racial utopia. Brunner traces how crackpot Nazi philosophies that tied the "Aryan race" to the upper latitudes have influenced modern pseudoscientific fantasies of racial and cultural superiority the world over.

The North, Brunner argues, was as much invented as discovered. Full of glittering details embedded in vivid storytelling, Extreme North is a fascinating romp through both actual encounters and popular imaginings, and a disturbing reminder of the power of fantasy to shape the world we live in.

“Beautifully written and deeply evocative, this is history that is in equal parts whimsical and disturbing. Bernd Brunner shows how scientific curiosity and the pursuit of adventure collided with malign theories of racial superiority, attributed to a myth of northern descent...Extreme North could not be more timely.” Sunil Amrith, author of Unruly Waters

“An intrepid researcher and writer, Bernd Brunner takes readers on a journey through time and space and into the minds of countless many...The journey is sometimes shocking, always fascinating, and surely worth taking.” Jack E. Davis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Gulf

“Extreme North is an icily bewitching panorama of the dreams and fears, the fascination and the danger of the snowy limits of civilization. In these fantasies and travel accounts, ancient legends, and wild projections, we become spectators of the age-old dance between life and landscape of Nordic climes on the one hand, and human longing on the other.” Philipp Blom, author of Nature's Mutiny

“A fascinating and historically disturbing journey through an intriguing land of mystery and legend.” Kirkus

“[A] captivating and wide-ranging account…Erudite yet accessible, and packed with intriguing arcana, this cultural history fascinates.” Publishers Weekly

Bernd Brunner is an historian, lecturer, and author of many acclaimed books whose work has also appeared in Lapham's Quarterly, the Paris Review, and Aeon, among other outlets. He splits his time between Istanbul and Berlin.

Jefferson Chase is the translator of some forty books from German to English, including works by Thomas Mann, Volker Ullrich, and Wolfgang Schivelbusch. He lives in Berlin.