The North Pole: A Narrative History

by Anthony Brandt (Editor)

"A few toes aren't much to give to achieve the Pole," observed Robert Peary, but as Anthony Brandt's gripping new anthology shows, much more was at risk for the men who tested the limits of endurance to reach the top of the world. Drawing on the extensive archives of the National Geographic Society, The North Pole tells the story of race to the Pole through the memoirs, letters, ship's logs, and diary entries of the great Arctic explorers. Beginning with the disappearance of Sir John Franklin in 1845, The North Pole documents the international efforts made to find the true Northernmost point of the globe. Anthony Brandt weaves together vivid accounts of the disasters that ensued. The explorers included men like Elisha Kane, a sickly man and useless commander, who led his team close to death in 1854, and Charles Hall, a printer from Ohio who made the mistake of taking an experienced crew who refused to commit suicide for him. Their mutiny so enraged Hall that he died of a stroke, and some of his crew escaped south on an ice-floe. Later explorers included daring Norwegians on skis, expeditions organized by the American tabloid press, Swedish balloonists, aristocratic Italians and finally the obsessive Robert Peary, who on one trip took his pregnant wife with him in order to set a record for the most northerly birth in history. Peary finally achieved the pole in 1909. In addition to Peary's triumphant account of his achievement, The North Pole includes the tale of a fourteen-year-old Horatio Nelson battling polar bears, the sinking of the Jeannette on De Long's push farthest north, Fridtjof Nansen's astonishing survival for two years in the Arctic, and the ill-fated dirigible expedition of the Italia. These stories and others are told in the explorers' own words, in all their direct and moving plainness, as they endure extremes of physical hardship and contend with each other in grim competition to reach the Pole first. Noted adventure expert Anthony Brandt compiles and blends together the narratives of the famous-and infamous- explorers into one unfolding historical drama that features the very best accounts of an enthralling story that spans four hundred years and embraces many different motives, modes of travel, and remarkable men -all risking their lives for a geographic point 500 miles from the nearest land. Anthony Brandt deftly weaves together intriguing journal excerpts and fascinating expedition details to form an unforgettable impression of both the characters involved and the hardships they faced. And the hardships here are gruesome. Scarcely one of the many glory seekers from Britain, the U.S., Germany, Russia, Italy and elsewhere return from their quests wholly intact, either physically or mentally. They ate their dogs, they ate moss and, sometimes, they ate each other, but even when it became clear that nothing but a wasteland awaited them at the pole, they pressed on. Stories like this make for a captivating look at the best and worst possibilities of the human spirit, woven together by an author who has established himself as one of the best adventure writers today. Explorers accounts featured in this book Sir John Barrow General Adolphus Washington Greely Roald Amundsen Fridtjof Nansen Horatio Nelson Robert Peary Matthew Henson Frederick Cook Elisha Kent Kane Richard Byrd Donald MacMillan And many more¨ "A few toes aren't much to give to achieve the Pole," observed Robert Peary, but as Anthony Brandt's gripping new anthology shows, much more was at risk for the men who tested the limits of endurance to reach the top of the world. Drawing on the extensive archives of the National Geographic Society, The North Pole tells the story of race to the Pole through the memoirs, letters, ship's logs, and diary entries of the great Arctic explorers. Beginning with the disappearance of Sir John Franklin in 1845, The North Pole documents the international efforts made to find the true Northernmost point of the globe. Anthony Brandt weaves together vivid accounts of the disasters that ensued. The explorers included men like Elisha Kane, a sickly man and useless commander, who led his team close to death in 1854, and Charles Hall, a printer from Ohio who made the mistake of taking an experienced crew who refused to commit suicide for him. Their mutiny so enraged Hall that he died of a stroke, and some of his crew escaped south on an ice-floe. Later explorers included daring Norwegians on skis, expeditions organized by the American tabloid press, Swedish balloonists, aristocratic Italians and finally the obsessive Robert Peary, who on one trip took his pregnant wife with him in order to set a record for the most northerly birth in history. Peary finally achieved the pole in 1909. In addition to Peary's triumphant account of his achievement, The North Pole includes the tale of a fourteen-year-old Horatio Nelson battling polar bears, the sinking of the Jeannette on De Long's push farthest north, Fridtjof Na...

Genres: History, Adventure, Nonfiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

About the author

From Random House:

Anthony Brandt is the editor of the Adventure Classics series published by National Geographic Society Press, and the books editor at National Geographic Adventure magazine. Formerly the book critic at Men’s Journal, Brandt has written for The Atlantic, GQ, Esquire, and many other magazines, and is the author of two previous books. He lives in Sag Harbor, New York.

Reviews

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice, getting these first-person accounts. Wish I had the companion volume about the South.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book briefly reviews and excerpts portions of the journals written by many early Arctic explorers, one from as early as 1577 but most from the 19th century. The summaries that introduce each journal segment are well written and the reasons specific journal segments have been selected are also detailed. All in all the book provides an excellent overview of the pioneering Arctic expeditions. These selected samples give only a very brief taste of the extreme hardship the parties faced and the many opportunities for a fatal outcome. The competition to reach the northernmost point involved many big egos and some liars as well. It is interesting to note how most of the explorers took advantage of the assistance of the native people but few learned to adopt the native skills and practices. I would recommend picking out one of the source books to get the full feel for these expeditions, say "Dr. Kane of the Arctic Seas".

[Amerynth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthony Brandt's "North Pole: A Narrative History" is a nice anthology featuring excerpts from many of the major expeditions to the Arctic with essays from the explorers who searched for the fabled Northwest Passage, for each other and for the North Pole. The passages written by the explorers themselves are nicely linked together by Brandt's narrative, making this very readable.

So much of the book depends on the journals, letters and books of the explorers themselves that the quality of the writing varies. Some stories are incredibly interesting (particularly John Richardson's story, which is one I hadn't read before) while others are more difficult to read through.

Overall, the book is an interesting collection of North Pole stories.