At the End of the World - by Lawrence Millman (Paperback)

About the Book

"At the End of the World is the remarkable story of a series of murders that occurred in an extremely remote corner of the Arctic in 1941. Those murders show that senseless violence in the name of religion is not only a contemporary phenomenon, and that a people as seemingly peaceful as the Inuit can become unpeaceful at the drop of a hat or, in this instance, a meteor shower. At the same time, the book is a warning cry against the destruction of what's left of our culture's humanity, along the destruction of the natural world. Has technology deprived us of our eyes? the author asks. Has it deprived the world of birds, beasts, and flowers? Lawrence Millman's At the End of the World is a brilliant and original book by one of the boldest writers of our era"--

Book Synopsis

An exploration of indigenous trauma, climate change, and digital culture in the shadow of a series of Inuit murders in Canada in 1941

Review Quotes

Praise for At the End of the World:

"A dark and twisted story of religion, violence, and lasting trauma, this true crime book is chilling in more way than one." ― Bustle

"Millman's book is a plea for keeping the sanctity of the unique cultures and landscape of the Far North." ― Explorers Journal

"A poetic assertion of what it means to be a human being in the 21st century...Perhaps Millman's greatest accomplishment is that, despite its dark implications, At the End of the World is a pleasure to read." ― Adventures NW

"A smart, emotional, and thought-provoking analysis of a lingering trauma. Millman has created a quiet and stunning investigative masterpiece." ― Booklist (starred)

"[You] should be impressed with the manner by which Millman connects the dots...he skillfully provides parallels to contemporary times on the dangers of one culture infiltrating another." ― Kirkus

"A bizarre series of cult murders receives a fresh look in At the End of the World" ― Shelf Awareness

"Millman tells this tale in a free-flowing narrative style, interspersing his interviews of the remaining survivors and their relatives with a history of the region (including a sardonic account of the filming of the 1922 documentary "Nanook of the North" on the mainland), a liberal peppering of quotes from diverse authors on nature and on technology and the consequences of old and new cultures clashing." ― WBUR's The ARTery

"This tragedy is compelling." ― Virginia Quarterly Review

"Lawrence Millman is a true original. The Arctic seems his natural landscape; it's as if he knows how to eavesdrop on the spirit world there. At the End of the World puts literature of the North into a hypnotic fugue state, and it's just whopping good storytelling. People don't just read Millman, they collect him." ― Howard Norman, author of The Ghost Clause and The Bird Artist

"At the End of the World is a lamentation. And not for the loss of life at the hands of insane murderers. But the loss of connection to our natural world. I think Millman's struggle to write the story (at least he claims to have struggled―to my eyes, words flow freely and wonderfully from his "Ticonderoga Tri-Write No. 2") comes from this realization." ― Fungi

"Well-written and deeply philosophical." ― Alaska Dispatch

"An enlightening, beautifully constructed read." ― What's Nonfiction?

"Unique and compelling...At the End of the World is a one of the more unique historical crime books I've ever come across and most certainly worth your attention. There's a lot to think about in this one and, more importantly, a lot we should be thinking about." ― Coleen Mondor, TinyLetter.com

"Lawrence Millman is ... a master writer, naturalist, and adventurer."― Robert Pyle, au

About the Author

Journalist and podcaster Ryan Murdock is the author of Vagabond Dreams: Road Wisdom from Central America and editor-at-large (Europe) for Outpost, Canada's national travel magazine. He shares his love of travel literature through book reviews focused on the classics and the Personal Landscapes podcast and writes regularly for the Shift, an independent Maltese news portal. He lives in Berlin.