From Publishers Weekly
After having written more than 35 books, most of them dealing in some fashion with the vastness of Canada's northern regions, it seems at first implausible that Mowat (Never Cry Wolf; The Farfarers; Walking on the Land; etc.) could have anything left to say on the subject. This splendid effort proves how wrong such an assumption would be. In 1966, Mowat's publisher, Jack McClelland, sent Mowat into northern Canada to research an illustrated volume on the region. This book is the tale of that journey. Hopscotching by creaky plane from one isolated settlement to another, Mowat witnesses the devastation being wrought on the native peoples by encroaching white men, lured by a mirage of the north's supposedly limitless minerals and the raw beauty of the land and its people. A cavalcade of vivid, fiction-worthy characters fills these pages: brusque missionaries, embittered native elders, soldiers drunk with cabin fever, and the tragic ghosts of the natives and early Viking explorers who once traversed these bracingly gorgeous lands. Voiced with a passionate sense of justice, this work is stirring reading from the bard of the Canadian north.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
In his books, Mowat championed the Inuit against the encroachments of the kablunait, the whites, and as a result, Canadian officialdom was never his biggest fan. In 1966, it was promoting a development scheme for the Arctic advertised as the "Northern Vision" when the famous gadfly traveled by float plane to see the vision firsthand. Mowat laid in sufficient rum for himself and his flying companions, and this medicinal aid allayed taut nerves in many a harrowing flight, recounted here in gallows humor as the author describes mountains flashing by, weather closing in, or gas running out. Clearly life in the north, even with planes and tawdry prefab housing, is precarious, and Mowat's quest asked whether their introduction as part of the vision did the Inuit any favors. Answers depended upon whom he asked, and Mowat builds his narrative around responses from Hudson's Bay Company managers, Christian missionaries, and when the kablunait were out of earshot, the Inuit themselves. Though a 36-year-old event, Mowat's trip touches on continuing environmental and cultural themes. The same great readership he built from his passion for nature and the Inuit will also be thrilled by the new biography Farley by James King (see review on p.834). Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Kirkus Reviews (starred review), December 15, 2002
"Here's vintage Mowat, highly evocative and in full piss-and-vinegar mode.... A fine slice out of Mowat’s time."

Book Description
High Latitudes chronicles the author’s journey across northern Canada in 1966. Engaging in what Margaret Atwood, in her introduction, calls "a salvation escapade," Mowat hoped to write a book based on his experiences that would debunk the then-current idea of the North as a playground for developers and polluters. Until now, that book remained unwritten. Mowat’s compelling blend of suspenseful storytelling and larger-than-life characters immerses readers in the Arctic, a place Mowat dubs a "bloody great wasteland." In a voice alternately filled with rage, humor, and pathos, Mowat seasons his story with photos, maps, and verbatim transcriptions of testimonies from northern peoples — Inuit and white — at a time when the old ways of life were disappearing.

From the Inside Flap
In High Latitudes Farley Mowat chronicles for the first time a sometimes hazardous journey he took across northern Canada in 1966. He hoped to write a book that would let northern people speak for themselves and that would expose the speciousness of the political idea that the North was “a bloody great wasteland” with no people in it, and therefore resource developers could exploit it however they chose. For reasons Mowat describes that book did not get written then. But here it is now, with the original conversations recorded by Mowat during that epic journey. In vintage Mowat fashion the legendary writer delivers a sweeping narrative brimming with breathtaking nature writing, suspenseful storytelling, larger-than-life characters, ferocious humor, pitiless rage, iconoclastic insights, and compassionate concern.
In her foreword Margaret Atwood writes: “High Latitudes gives us, with passion and insight, a vertical section of time past — the time that preceded our present. The choices that were made then affect our now, just as the choices we make now will determine the future. . . . It’s both depressing and cheering to note the changes that have taken place since 1966. On the one hand, more damage and devastation, both natural and social, with global warming as a contributing factor. On the other hand, an increased optimism. . . But as Farley Mowat has always known, and as more and more people have come to agree, it’s a race against time, and time — not just for the North, but for the planet — is running out.”

About the Author
FARLEY MOWAT is the author of thirty-eight books that have been published in forty countries and twenty-four different languages and sold more than fourteen million copies. He lives in Ontario and Nova Scotia with his wife, Claire Mowat.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In High Latitudes Farley Mowat chronicles for the first time a sometimes hazardous journey he took across northern Canada in 1966. He had hoped to write a book that would let northern people speak for themselves and that would expose the speciousness of the political idea that the North was "a bloody great wasteland" with no people in it, and therefore a place resource developers could exploit however they chose. For reasons Mowat describes that book did not get written then. But here it is now, with the original conversations recorded by Mowat during that epic journey, and with accounts of new travels and up-to-date information that connect what he recorded in the sixties to today's realities. In her foreword Margaret Atwood writes: "High Latitudes gives us, with passion and insight, a vertical section of time past -- the time that preceded our present. The choices that were made then affect our now, just as the choices we make now will determine the future. It's both depressing and cheering to note the changes that have taken place since 1966. On the one hand, more damage and devastation, both natural and social, with global warming as a contributing factor. On the other hand, an increased optimism. But as Farley Mowat has always known, and as more and more people have come to agree, it's a race against time, and time -- not just for the North, but for the planet -- is running out."

FROM THE CRITICS

The Washington Post

As always, [Farley's] descriptions of the natural world are precise and vivid. — Dennis Drabelle

Publishers Weekly

After having written more than 35 books, most of them dealing in some fashion with the vastness of Canada's northern regions, it seems at first implausible that Mowat (Never Cry Wolf; The Farfarers; Walking on the Land; etc.) could have anything left to say on the subject. This splendid effort proves how wrong such an assumption would be. In 1966, Mowat's publisher, Jack McClelland, sent Mowat into northern Canada to research an illustrated volume on the region. This book is the tale of that journey. Hopscotching by creaky plane from one isolated settlement to another, Mowat witnesses the devastation being wrought on the native peoples by encroaching white men, lured by a mirage of the north's supposedly limitless minerals and the raw beauty of the land and its people. A cavalcade of vivid, fiction-worthy characters fills these pages: brusque missionaries, embittered native elders, soldiers drunk with cabin fever, and the tragic ghosts of the natives and early Viking explorers who once traversed these bracingly gorgeous lands. Voiced with a passionate sense of justice, this work is stirring reading from the bard of the Canadian north. (Mar. 1) Forecast: The near-simultaneous publication of Farley: The Life of Farley Mowat, by James King (Forecasts, Dec. 16, 2002), should help this book get some publicity. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

In 1966, Mowat (The Farfarers; Never Cry Wolf) traveled extensively throughout north and Arctic Canada recording Eskimos', Inuits', and others' thoughts and feelings about Ottawa's "Northern Vision" campaign. This plan called for the extraction of valuable resources, the removal of natives from their traditional homelands, new city development, and, in the process, the eradication of the northern peoples' cultures. Interspersed among the interviews are details of Mowat's travels (both terrestrial and aerial), archaeological and anthropological information, and regional and federal political shenanigans. The book is unsettling, and some actions taken in the name of native "education" are appalling. Mowat published Canada North (updated in 1976 as The Great Betrayal: Arctic Canada Now) after his trip, but it contained no information about the journey itself. High Latitudes is classic Mowat: goading, engaging, and filled with natural descriptions of the Arctic's people and places. Would the publication of this book in the 1960s have altered Canada's history? Probably not, since greed outweighs and usually out-motivates altruistic drives. The book would benefit from an epilog detailing what has happened to the towns, people, and the "Northern Vision" campaign. With a foreword by Margaret Atwood, this is recommended for public libraries.-Margaret Atwater-Singer, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews