Frostlines - A Journey Through Entangled Lives and Landscapes in a Warming Arctic

A groundbreaking and sweeping exploration of the Arctic--and how it''s being transformed by climate change--that blends natural history, anthropology, and travel writing, from National Geographic writer Neil Shea As warming reshapes our planet, the Arctic--a region that once seemed unchangeable and immutable, beyond the reach of modern problems--is quickly coming undone. While the old cold world can still be glimpsed in the movements of caribou, the hidden lives of wolves, or the hunting skill of an Inupiat elder, look closer and you''ll find a new Arctic emerging in its place. In Frostlines , Neil Shea reveals how the beauty, chaos, and power of change in the far north are reflected in the individual lives of people and animals. Structured as a revolution around the pole from east to west, Shea sojourns with a wolf pack on Canada''s Ellesmere Island and travels among the Indigenous Netsilingmiut and Tlicho peoples of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. He tracks dwindling caribou herds across Alaska and measures the potential of oil and gas developments along North America''s wildest edge. And in the European Arctic, he explores the new Cold War rising between Russia, China, Europe, and the United States over who controls the pole and will reap its riches as the ice melts. What Shea finds is not one Arctic but many--all still linked by shattering cold, seasons of darkness, and a pure, inimitable light. Written with masterful prose and a spark of adventure, Frostlines is an expansive yet intimate revelation of the Arctic during a time of transformation, and a journey along the threshold of this stunning and sometimes frightening world that''s emerging right before our eyes.

About the author

Neil Shea is a writer and journalist based in Brooklyn. He has written for National Geographic for over fifteen years, reporting around the world at the intersections of conflict, climate science, and cultural change. He is a cocreator of the Peabody Award–nominated podcast Unfinished: Deep South and a contributing editor at the Virginia Quarterly Review and The American Scholar.

Summary

A sweeping exploration of the Arctic—and how it’s being transformed by climate change—from National Geographic writer Neil Shea
As warming reshapes our planet, the Arctic—a region that once seemed unchangeable, beyond the reach of modern problems—is quickly coming undone. While the old cold world can still be glimpsed in the movements of caribou, the hidden lives of wolves, and the hunting skill of an Iñupiaq elder, look closer and you’ll find a new Arctic appearing in its place. 
In Frostlines, Neil Shea blends natural history, anthropology, and travel writing to explore how the beauty, chaos, and power of change in the far north are reflected in the lives of people and animals. He sojourns with a wolf pack on Canada’s Ellesmere Island and travels with Indigenous hunters in Alaska, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories. He tracks dwindling caribou herds across the top of North America, searches for vanished Vikings in Greenland, and visits the front line of the new Cold War rising between Russia and Europe. What Shea finds is not one Arctic but many—all still linked by shattering cold, seasons of darkness, and a pure, inimitable light.
Written with masterful prose and a spark of adventure, Frostlines is an expansive yet intimate revelation of the Arctic during a time of transformation, and a journey along the threshold of a stunning and sometimes frightening world that’s emerging right before our eyes. 

Report

"A captivating exploration of the Arctic...Shea sketches moving scenes in lyrical prose that emphasizes the interconnectedness of living things...Readers will be transported." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Profound and moving. In prose that shines with insight and astute observation, the intersecting stories of people, animals, and the land come to vivid life in these pages. Shea's brilliant writing offers clear-eyed and respectful meditations on the meanings of community and belonging in times of upheaval, in the past, present, and future. In these stories, we see the life of the Arctic not only as central to the environment and geopolitics but, most important, for what it means to be in living, reciprocal relationship with the more-than-human world." - David George Haskell, biologist and two-time Pulitzer-finalist author of Sounds Wild and Broken, The Songs of Trees, and The Forest Unseen
"From wolves and whales to weaponized borders, Neil Shea cinches a singular storyline across the Arctic cap of our rapidly changing planet, bearing witness to loss and conflict while holding tight to wonder and awe." - Meera Subramanian, author of A River Runs Again
"With evocative and time-bending writing, Neil Shea honors the historic agency of animals and peoples too often idealized and 'managed.' As climate chaos warms his beloved Arctic faster than anywhere else on earth, Shea reminds us that we do not have to destroy the place where people still respect the rhythms of animals and their miraculous migrations." - Trish O'Kane, author of Birding to Change the World
"Frostlines transports readers to far-flung regions of the Arctic, where they encounter majestic wolves and elusive caribou. Neil Shea's captivating prose reveals the Arctic's extraordinary diversity and illuminates the ecological, social, and cultural consequences of a changing climate in one of the world's most important-and least understood-regions." - Amanda Bellows, author of The Explorers
"Lush and heartbreaking, Frostlines lays the Arctic bare to reveal a place of life, beauty, and ancient interdependencies. Neil Shea is both a careful observer and a gifted writer, weaving a narrative steeped in loss, wonder, and warning." - Jonathan C. Slaght, author of Tigers Between Empires and Owls of the Eastern Ice

Product details

• Authors: Neil Shea
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 01.12.2025
• EAN: 9780063138575
• ISBN: 978-0-06-313857-5
• No. of pages: 240
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Ecology; ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: SCIENCE & NATURE, NATURE: Environmental Conservation & Protection, ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: POLICY, TRAVEL: Polar Regions, NATURE: Ecosystems & Habitats / Polar Regions