For five centuries Europeans sought a short cut across the top of the world. The quest for a passage to the riches of the Orient claimed many ships and many lives as explorers searched for a route through a labyrinth of islands and ice-strewn waterways. It was 1906 before the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen first completed a transit from Atlantic to Pacific.

The Northwest Passage is an ice-choked waterway with spectacular landscapes and a powerful history of naval endeavour. Over the last decade global warming has opened this fabled passage in late summer for possible commercial shipping and the continuing opportunity for adventurous travel.

This is the first book to draw together the rich history with a guide to the region-home for the majority of the world's seabirds, enormous numbers of seals, plenty of polar bears and whales and more than enough mosquitoes. It is also home for Inuit communities which adapted superbly to a cruel climate. Today's travellers will meet them and see incomparable scenery and a wealth of wildlife, to say nothing of the chance to have a voice in the long-term management of this wilderness region.

An absorbing read and a practical resource.