This is pretty much a chronological review of cultural concepts and interpretations of “the North” from a German/Northern European view point. When I say Northern European that means up to the Baltic and hence excluding Nordics.

As a Swede, having been born into and grown up in the North, this is an interesting read. It’s a little bit like seeing a culture that is healthy and not stuck in some romanticization of the North through the looking glass - some things resonate while others feel like “huh, that’s… interesting”.

Read to 50%

I appreciated the loose format of small essays, and would love to see that more often in non-fiction. This allowed Brunner to draw from a wide variety of sources, and span thousands of years of history. However, there just wasn’t a center of gravity to the project.

Nazism cast a shadow over most of the book, and i was impressed by the author’s clear-headed approach to threading the history of Aryan supremacy throughout the book while tackling its evil head-on.

Originally written in German, Extreme North explores both the Nordic landscape and psyche with history as the backbone and mythology providing the lifeblood. The mystical, frozen north, often thought of as uninhabitable, has its stories recounted here, from prehistoric to modern times. The book reflects on the origins of white supremacy, interestingly enough, and gives a lot of time to the Germanic tribes, ostensibly because of the author’s own German roots.

Using an impressive list of both primary and secondary sources in a narrative manner, Brunner explores the lives of both men and women, both adventurers and indigenous peoples, and both nazis and people of color. The book gives ample time to the mysteries of the Vikings by exploring facts over fiction.

The eye-opening description of the “discovery” of the North Pole and the relocation of the indigenous people of the area further reinforces the manifest destiny ideal that has long been the root of colonialism.

I listened to the audio read by Jonathan Yen and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lots of great info, needed a stronger sense of thesis

Very interesting at points but occasional points where I knew enough to think "That isn't true... it is just a popular misconception". Plenty of points where it fit things I knew... but all the same it does make it seem a little iffy.

This was a swift and fun read about how the idea of Northern Europe (Iceland, Britain, Scandinavia) shaped cultures from the Ancient Greeks to Nazi Germany. Whether it was the concept of Ultima Thule in Athens, polar explorers racing to be the first individuals to plant their nations' flags in the 19th century, or esoteric-fascists imagining the region as the origin-point of a superior civilization, Brunner does a great job drawing you in and explaining the history in easily-digestible bites. He also briefly draws attention to the subaltern, such as gender non-conforming Inuits and African-American adventurers.