The News at the Ends of the Earth

"The News at the Ends of the Earth is a fine-grained register of the ebb and flow of a printophilic century, from Ross to Shackleton. While mindful of the minor variations over the decades, Blum marvelously conveys that fantastic, phantasmatically preserved shipbound conversation, a dilated and heterogeneous house party." -- John Plotz * Public Books *
"An intricately layered, richly illustrated examination of shipboard newspapers (printed and handwritten), playbills, and other media produced by expeditions to the Antarctic and Arctic regions between 1818 and 1914. . . . The book speaks to the human imperative to communicate, even under extremely hostile conditions. . . . Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty." -- J. Bekken * Choice *
"Superb. . . . As the Anthropocene continues to develop, Blum’s concern with the media and narratives we might use to represent the planet’s predicament is of interest not only to scholars of printing and the polar regions, but also to a general reader." -- Nancy Campbell * TLS *
"Blum’s book is a lively and enjoyable account of a fascinating historical period and its practices—but it is also vitally relevant for our current moment." -- Carie Lyn Schneider * Edge Effects *
"[Blum] offers a fascinating history of onboard polar publication and provides a detailed analysis of the various textual materials produced during voyages of Arctic and Antarctic exploration. It also strives to unpick the intriguing motivations that lay behind their production. ... An invaluable contribution to several branches of scholarship, and readers interested in polar exploration, literary studies, and histories of printing culture will gain much from reading this interesting and insightful book." -- Peter R. Martin * Nineteenth Century Studies *
"The News at the Ends of the Earth makes a significant contribution to the growing push to incorporate the polar regions into world histories. It would be of immense value to historians with an interest in oceanic spaces, the polar regions, histories of printed media, or histories of ephemera, and would be a useful starting point for scholars looking to think about how the Arctic and Antarctic fit into the scope of world history." -- Rohan Howitt * Journal of World History *
"The News at the Ends of the Earth is exciting, both for what it definitively argues and for the questions it incites." -- Devin M. Garofalo * Journal of American Studies *
"The News at the Ends of the Earth offers a fascinating, finely textured portrait of life aboard ship in the most extreme environments of the world." -- Michael Robinson * Journal of American History *
“The News at the Ends of the Earth succeeds in its assertion that the practices of historical polar expeditions are important in comprehending the current climate crisis. The reader is left with an overwhelming sense of how crucial the enterprise of creating these collective outlets of communication was, and still is, in understanding one’s place in the environment and the necessity of self-expression in climatic extremes.” -- Eavan O’Dochartaigh * Journal for Maritime Research *
“Hester Blum’s The News at the Ends of the Earth is deeply detailed and richly illustrated in order to create a book that is at once informative and culturally important.” -- Emily Ennis * Victoriographies *