A Review of Chu Pey-Yi, The Life of Permafrost: A History of Frozen Earth in Russian and Soviet Science. Toronto; Buffalo;London: University of Toronto Press, 2020, 288 pp.

Abstract

In this review, Pei-Yi Chu’s book The Life of Permafrost: The History of Frozen Land in Russian and Soviet Science is examined in detail from two perspectives, methodological and historical. The evolution of Chu’s methodological approach and analytical language on the way from a thesis to a book is analyzed, and the history of the late Soviet research on permafrost, which was not covered in the book, is briefly described.