Research Information System
Polar Journal, vol.13, no.2, pp.1-4, 2024 (SSCI)
At the nexus of imperial motivation and global ambition, A Few Acres of Ice: Environment, Sovereignty, and Grandeur in the French Antarctic sheds light on France’s complex relationship with the polar regions as a midsize world power. The author elaborately summarises that complex relationship by stating that ‘the story told in this book is neither one of domination nor of colonialism as traditionally understood, but one of imperial motivation and global ambition nonetheless’ (p. 194). The nine chapters of the book discuss the transformation of French motivation and attitude towards Antarctica in a highly vivid manner. Indeed, after discovery and formal claims, this is the story of France, sustaining and justifying her claims in the process of becoming a polar nation.