Antarctica

Like Captain James Cook, I have been slowly circling the Antarctic.While labouring on other books, the ice-covered continent keptlooming into view like an alluring mirage, suggesting itself as asubject worthy of closer exploration. The chance to do so came afterI completed Conquest: How societies overwhelm others (2008),which examined how so-called 'supplanting societies' claim territoriesand make them their own over an extended period of time. Itwas a new way of looking at the history of the world.