BOOK REVIEWS: La pugna Antártica: el conflicto por el sexto continente 1939-1959 [The Antarctic struggle: the conflict for the sixth continent 1939-1959]

La pugna Antártica: el conflicto por el sexto continente 1939-1959 [The Antarctic struggle: the conflict for the sixth continent 1939-1959] . Fontana Fontana . 2014. Buenos Aires : Guazuvira Ediciones . 323p, illustrated, softcover. ISBN 978-987-33-5970-5 . ARS$ 195.

This book covers a substantially longer period than indicated in its title for it begins with accounts of early activities in the Antarctic, many of which are associated with the development of territorial claims which eventually went into abeyance when the Antarctic Treaty came into force in 1961 and ends in recent times. However, the introduction indicates that the two decades, from 1939 to 1959, will be principal subjects of the book.

The author is specifically concerned with Antártida Argentina and, in consequence, claims by Britain and, to a lesser extent, Chile are involved, as these overlap on the Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands. The cover illustrates much of the theme by showing portraits of President Juan Domingo Péron of Argentina in the centre with President Franklin Roosevelt and President Augusto Pinochet to his left and Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chancellor Adolf Hitler to his right. One wonders why the president of Chile from 1973 to 1990 is included among the others who were in office during the events described in the book; Gabriel González Videla, President from 1946 to 1952, who has an Antarctic station named after him, would have been more relevant. Concepts of the Antarctic have a degree of variation and this book takes a broad view: the portion south of Argentina, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are included in the early chapters, although the majority of the book refers to the region south of 60° under the ægis of the Antarctic Treaty, particularly the region where Argentine, British, and Chilean claims overlap. Events involving the Falkland Islands occur sporadically throughout the book.

The first chapter, Argentina y la Belle Époque Austral [Argentina and the good time south], begins with a terse summary of Antarctic history with involvement of the precursors of the Argentine Republic which also concern Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. Emphasis is placed on José Maria Sobral, an Argentine who wintered with Otto Nordenskjöld's Swedish expedition and the rescue by the Argentine naval vessel