The Ice Harp

Ralph Waldo Emerson battles dementia while debating whether to intercede in a Black soldier’s unjust arrest In 1879, toward the end of his life, the Sage of Concord has lost his words. Beset by aphasia and grief, Ralph Waldo Emerson is scarcely recognizable as America’s foremost essayist and orator. To the dismay of his wife, he frequently entertains the specters of his fellow transcendentalists, including Whitman, Thoreau, John Muir, and Margaret Fuller, and frets about the future of humankind and the natural world. Does the present displace the past? Do ideas always precede actions? What responsibility does each of us bear for the downtrodden, the preservation of liberty, and the Earth itself? These metaphysical concerns become concrete when Emerson meets a Black soldier accused of killing a white man who abused him. The soldier’s presence demands a response from Emerson, an action outside the parlors of philosophy and beyond the realm where language and logic hold sway. The Ice Harp, the tenth stand-alone book in The American Novels series, is a poignant portrayal of a literary luminary coming to terms with the loss of memory, the cost of inaction, and the end of life.

This title takes readers to harp seal habitats to understand why harp seals are at risk, what humans are doing to make matters worse, and the ways humans can help to save harp seals and ultimately, Earth. Sidebars, maps, and a glossary enhance readers' understanding of this topic. Additional features include a table of contents, an index, and a fact sheet. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

Traces a year in the life of a harp seal, from her birth on an ice floe in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, through the spring migration, and back to her home in the Gulf.

Reviews the biology and population dynamics of the harp seal, Phoca groenlandica Erxleben, the history of its hunting over several centuries and its eventual conservation.

The Saqqaq Culture site Qeqertasussuk (2400-1400 BC) is situated in the south eastern corner of Disko Bay, West Greenland. The site was excavated between 1983 and 1987 by Qasigiannguit Museum. The stratified cultural deposits are exceptionally well preserved by permafrost and yielded hundreds of thousands of animal bones, feathers, plant remains, insect remains, wooden implements, and a wealth of other organic refuse as well as stone tools, house ruins, stone set fireplaces and other traces of habitation. In order to understand the life conditions of the inhabitants at Qeqertasussuk, a comparative survey of the historic distribution, density and availability of the living resources in the area is undertaken. This resource model is then evaluated against the paleo-environmental data. Also, comparative ethnohistorical and ethnographic data on the exploitation of the living resources in the area is presented. Subsistence and subsistence change at Qeqertasussuk is studied through a comprehensive analysis of the faunal material that consists of more than 200,000 animal bones. Quantitative methods are supplemented by detailed studies of seasonality and age composition of the hunting bag. Forty three species of animals are represented. Harp seal and ringed seal represent the most important game, but sea birds such as fulmar, Brünnich's guillemot, and little auk also play a significant role in the subsistence economy. Fish, especially Atlantic Cod, have been caught and remains of large whales indicate that these animals were utilized, but it can not be decided whether they were actively hunted. Most of the game was taken close by the site, however finds of caribou indicate that inland caribou hunting was undertaken and that Qeqertasussuk was part of a larger subsistence-settlement-system. Several species of plants were also utilized. Temporal changes in the composition of the faunal material indicate that significant changes occur in the subsistence at Qeqertasusuk. Four phases are identified: (1) Basecamp period I (2400-2100 BC). A pioneer phase where the site is used as a year-round base camp with more than 90% of the biomass being harvested within an area of approximately 80 km2, (2) Base-camp period II (2100-1900 BC), which seems to be the period of most intensive use and where new methods (probably netting) of harp seal hunting are introduced, (3) Hunting camp period (1900-1700 BC), where the site becomes more specialized and more seasonal with a focus on spring-summer hunting for harp seals, (4) high activity period (1700-1400 BC) indications of continued heavy sea mammal hunting. The site was abandoned around 1400 BC. The causes of the abandonment of Qeqertasussuk is discussed and the impact of the general cooling around 1500 BC on key resources such as harp seal and capelin is highlighted.

The demand for oil to light and lubricate the industrial world changed the face of much of the planet. Newfoundland was part of this widespread transformation as migratory cod fishermen settled here in the early 1800s in order to hunt seals in late winter and early spring. The seal fishery brought prosperity and growth and shaped this new society, but seal hunters and their families paid a heavy human cost in lives lost and suffering experienced. The traditional oil industries were doomed with the discovery of mineral oils and the ha essing of electricity, and Newfoundland-along with other societies-faced painful adjustments while searching for alte ative industries. However while its place in the economy declined, the seal fishery left an indelible imprint on Newfoundland's culture and identity. This study, with its tables, maps and illustrations, examines the history of the Newfoundland seal fishery from its origins up to 1914, ranging in scope from the life of the hunter on the ice flows to the demands of the consumer in the market place. Shannon Ryan was bo in riverhead, Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, and educated at Memorial University of Newfoundland (BA Ed, BA, and MA) and the University of London (PH). He worked for nine years as a schoolteacher and principal and in 1971 he was appointed to the faculty of History. His publications and presentations are in the fields of Newfoundland, Maritime, fisheries and oral history. He served as president of the Newfoundland Historical society during 1984-1988, as Newfoundland's representative on the Social sciences and humanities research council of Canada during 1989-1993 and was elected a fellow of the Royal society in 1988.