{"product_id":"9780978549510","title":"Cold Coasts: A Cold War Caper in the High Arctic","description":"THE COLD COASTS - a Cold War adventure in the high Arctic,   featuring pack ice, seals and polar bears, and frigid islands just a few   hundred miles from the North Pole.  \u003cp\u003e  In 1955, American and Norwegian intelligence officers and scientists   sail aboard a sealing vessel to spy on the Russians and locate sites for   illegal military airstrips on the Spitsbergen islands.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  It could have become an international incident  - until a huge chunk of   ice intervened.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  The Cold Coasts is also the story of a young family man: a geologist who   seemed to disappear from the face of the earth while on this secret   mission. Fresh from witnessing atomic testing in the American West, he   found himself bound for Russian waters, living as a Norwegian seal hunter.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  After 40 years of secrecy, the story finally began to break in Norway.   Now it is told in English for the first time.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  Richly illustrated with photographs and maps.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  The author is a retired geologist living in Charlottesville, Virginia.   He is the father of three grown sons. After more than 50 years of   marriage, his wife Jaquelin died in 2006.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  The first half of his career, mostly with the U. S. Geological Survey,   was devoted to applications of earth sciences in solving military   problems. In addition to the Svalbard mission described here, he had   extended field assignments in Alaska, Germany, Iran, and Vietnam. He   also held a variety of research, editorial, and managerial positions.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  His later career was in environmental geology. He managed a program of   environmental resource inventories for the civil works programs of the   U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. Returning to the Geological Survey, he   was involved in the environmental impact analysis of various mineral   developments on the public lands and the outer continental shelf. He   retired as chief of the Survey’s office of environmental affairs.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  For several years following retirement, Jim was a member and exhibiting   artist in the Enamelists Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in   Alexandria, Virginia.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  He has written numerous articles, reports, and books on scientific and   technical subjects, but The Cold Coasts is his first attempt to reach a   more general audience.  \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Pietas Publications","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47023859269872,"sku":"9780978549510","price":23.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780978549510_p0.jpg?v=1763876899","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780978549510","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}