Radio 4

'There can be few better or more enjoyable ways of learning about the many Arctics' - Daily Mail

The Arctic was once a place seemingly frozen in time. Now, while the old cold world can still be glimpsed in the herds of caribou, the hidden lives of narwhals, and the hunting skill of an Inupiat elder, there is a new Arctic emerging.

National Geographic writer Neil Shea travels among the Indigenous peoples of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. In Alaska he tracks the patterns of caribou, now shifting after thousands of years of predictability, and in the European Arctic he explores the new Cold War that is rising between Russia, China, Europe, and the United States over who controls the pole, and who will reap its riches as the ice melts.

Frostlines is an expansive yet intimate revelation of the Arctic during a time of crisis, and a journey along the threshold of this stunning and sometimes frightening world. What Shea finds is not one Arctic but many – all linked by shattering cold, seasons of darkness, and pure, sparkling light.

FROSTLINES

Written and read by Neil Shea

Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters

The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4