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Vilhjalmur Stefansson
The Northward Course of Empire, The Adventure of Wrangel Island, 1922–1925, and “Universal Revolution”
in Sibirica
Author:
Paul Dukes
Paul Dukes
University of Aberdeen p.dukes@abdn.ac.uk
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Abstract
Vilhjalmur Stefansson was an Arctic explorer and anthropologist. The article analyzes two of his books, The Northward Course of Empire and The Adventure of Wrangel Island, in the context of the “universal revolution” including World War I and the Russian Revolution at a time when Siberia, especially its Arctic region, was widely seen as separate from the rest of the former Russian Empire. Stefansson moved through the English-speaking world of Canada, the US, and Great Britain, while acting as an advocate of the colonization of the Arctic region. Later, Stefansson’s connections with the Soviet Union put him under suspicion of un-American activities, but a retrospective assessment of his career shows him to be a sometimes mistaken but often farsighted advocate of Arctic development.
Contributor Notes
Paul Dukes, FRSE, is emeritus professor at the University of Aberdeen, where he has been located since 1964. He is the author of books on aspects of Russian, European, and world history, most recently Minutes to Midnight: History and the Anthropocene Era from 1763 (Anthem, 2011); A History of the Urals: Russia’s Crucible from Early Empire to the Post-Soviet Era (Bloomsbury, 2015); and Great Men in the Second World War: The Rise and Fall of the Big Three (Bloomsbury, 2017). E-mail: p.dukes@abdn.ac.uk