Ice Bear – The Cultural History of an Arctic Icon

Seattle 2017, kt., Großformat, 288 Seiten, viele
Abb. Prime Arctic predator and nomad of
the sea ice and tundra, the polar bear endures as a source of wonder, terror,
and fascination. Humans have seen it as spirit guide and fanged enemy, as trade
good and moral metaphor, as food source and symbol of ecological crisis. Eight
thousand years of artifacts attest to its charisma, and to the fraught
relationships between our two species. In the White Bear, we acknowledge the
magic of wildness, it is both genuinely itself and a screen for our
imagination. Ice Bear traces and illuminates this intertwined history. From
Inuit shamans to Jean Harlow lounging on a bearskin rug, from the cubs trained
to pull sleds toward the North Pole to cuddly superstar Knut, it all comes to
life in these pages. With meticulous research and more than 160 illustrations,
the author brings into focus this powerful and elusive animal