The Arctic features an international mix of classic first-person accounts of exploration, literary travelogues and works on cultural history, natural science and fiction about the North Pole.

Contributors include British, American, Scandinavian and Russian explorers such as John Franklin, Fridtjof Nansen, Salomon August Andree, Knud Rasmussen and Robert Peary; novelists such as Jules Verne, Jack London and Barry Lopez; and environmental explorers such as Gretel Ehrlich. Published alongside the companion volume, The Antarctic: An Anthology.