The Peter Freuchen reader;

by Peter Freuchen

These selections span his entire career as polar explorer, fighter for the Danish underground in WWII, and UN correspondent for the Danish Newspaper, Politken. They touch on a variety of subjects, We see Freuchen's tremendous yearning for adventure and far away places, the hardship of life in the Arctic, his reaction to the Nazis and the prison camp where he was confined...

471 pages, Hardcover

About the author

Peter Freuchen, born Lorenz Peter Elfred Freuchen was a Danish explorer, writer and traveler.

He spent many years in Thule, Greenland, living with the Polar Inuit. He worked with Knud Rasmussen, crossing the Greenland icecap with him. In 1935, Freuchen visited South Africa, and by the end of the decade, he had travelled to Siberia.

In 1938 he founded The Adventurer's Club (Eventyrernes Klub in Danish), which still exists. They later honoured his memory by planting an oak tree and creating an Eskimo cairn near the place, where he left Denmark for Greenland back in 1906.

He was also employed by the movie industry as a consultant and scriptwriter, specializing in Arctic-related scripts. Most notably MGM's Oscar winning Eskimo/Mala The Magnificent starring Ray Mala. In 1956, he won $64,000 on The $64,000 Question, an American TV quiz-show on the subject "The Seven Seas".

During World War II, Freuchen was actively involved with the Danish resistance movement against the Germans, despite having lost a leg to frost bite in 1926. He was imprisoned for a time by the Germans.

Reviews

[Nathan Skinner]

“No one is to be blamed. No one can say that one thing is more important than the other. Sentimental thoughts must be forgotten, for they lead nowhere. But where he has dreamed the dreams of his youth, there a man wants to return.”