As the threat of global climate change becomes a reality, many look to the Arctic Ocean to predict coming environmental phenomena. There, the consequences of Earth's warming trend are most immediately observable in the multi-year and perennial ice that has begun to melt, which threatens ice-dependent microorganisms and, eventually, will disrupt all of Arctic life.

In The Arctic: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Klaus Dodds and Mark Nuttall offer a concise introduction to the circumpolar North, focusing on its peoples, environment, resource development, conservation, and politics to provide critical information about how changes there can and will affect our entire globe and all of its inhabitants. Dodds and Nuttall shed light on how the Arctic's importance has grown over time, the region's role during the Cold War, indigenous communities and their history, and the past and future of the Arctic's governance, among other crucial topics. The Arctic is an essential primer for those seeking information about one of the most important regions in the world today.