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This volume "explores the origins of our Martian obsession in the late nineteenth century" and examines "the way turn-of-the-century Americans and Europeans thought about space, knowledge, and power." The author paints a picture of how "scientists and the public saw [Mars] around the beginning of the 20th century, when canals on the Red Planet seemed a very real possibility." It is a story of mountain observatories, of fieldwork conducted at a distance, and of how Mars's geographers sought social and scientific legitimacy, exploring how astronomy and geography intersected in the debates over the existence of life on Mars.

High mountains, polar expanses, volcanic peaks are exciting and special environments. 13 leading international geographers explore different aspects of these environments - disorientation, exploration, native knowledge, polar research. This is the first book to do this.High places - be they mountain peaks or the vast expanses of the polar latitudes - have always captured the human imagination. Inaccessible, extreme, they are commonly invested with awe and reverence, as places of physical challenge, intense experience. Increasingly, they are also treated as unique locations for science."High Places" explores the fascinating geographies of these special environments, revealing how senses are challenged, objectivities exposed, cultural assumptions laid bare. Whether walking the summit of Pico de Orizaba, the fourth highest volcano in the northern hemisphere; recounting the tale of the American explorer Charles Wilkes, charged with 'immoral mapping' in Antarctica; or exploring the 200,000 year old Greenland ice core; the international contributors reveal the richness and significance of these unique locations. Embracing Europe, Asia, North and Central America, Antarctica and the Arctic, "High Places" will interest geographers, historians of science, and those interested in polar/mountain studies, landscape, culture and environment.