Author : Leonard F. Guttridge
Publisher : Putnam Adult
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 37,16 MB
Release : 2000
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN :
The harrowing true story of the Greely Expedition.
Author : Michael F. Robinson
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 219 pages
File Size : 15,89 MB
Release : 2010-11-15
Category : History
ISBN : 0226721876
In the late 1800s, “Arctic Fever” swept across the nation as dozens of American expeditions sailed north to the Arctic to find a sea route to Asia and, ultimately, to stand at the North Pole. Few of these missions were successful, and many men lost their lives en route. Yet failure did little to dampen the enthusiasm of new explorers or the crowds at home that cheered them on. Arctic exploration, Michael F. Robinson argues, was an activity that unfolded in America as much as it did in the wintry hinterland. Paying particular attention to the perils facing explorers at home, The Coldest Crucible examines their struggles to build support for the expeditions before departure, defend their claims upon their return, and cast themselves as men worthy of the nation’s full attention. In so doing, this book paints a new portrait of polar voyagers, one that removes them from the icy backdrop of the Arctic and sets them within the tempests of American cultural life. With chronological chapters featuring emblematic Arctic explorers—including Elisha Kent Kane, Charles Hall, and Robert Peary—The Coldest Crucible reveals why the North Pole, a region so geographically removed from Americans, became an iconic destination for discovery.
Author : Mike Horn
Publisher : Macmillan + ORM
Page : 432 pages
File Size : 38,45 MB
Release : 2014-09-02
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1466880155
In August 2002, Mike Horn set out on a mission that bordered on the impossible: to travel 12,000 miles around the globe at the Arctic Circle - alone, against all prevailing winds and currents, and without motorized transportation. Conquering the Impossible is the gripping account of Horn's grueling 27-month expedition by sail and by foot through extreme Arctic conditions that nearly cost him his life on numerous occasions. Enduring temperatures that ranged to as low as -95 degrees Fahrenheit, Horn battled hazards including shifting and unstable ice that gave way and plunged him into frigid waters, encounters with polar bears so close that he felt their breath on his face, severe frostbite in his fingers, and a fire that destroyed all of his equipment and nearly burned him alive. Complementing the sheer adrenaline of Horn's narrative are the isolated but touching human encounters the adventurer has with the hardy individuals who inhabit one of the remotest corners of the earth. From an Inuit who teaches him how to build an igloo to an elderly Russian left behind when the Soviets evacuated his remote Arctic town, Horn finds camaraderie, kindness, and assistance to help him survive the most unforgiving conditions. This awe-inspiring account is a page-turner and an Arctic survival tale in one. Most of all, it's a testament to one man's unrelenting desire to push the boundaries of human endurance.
Author : Steven Walton
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 440 pages
File Size : 46,75 MB
Release : 2005-05-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9047407032
Research and instrumentation in warfare since 1500 demonstrates the rise of the scientific military, the complicated interaction with military institutions, and details of how scientists and engineers developed artillery and explosives, surveying and geophysics, pilot testing and siegework, and the role of national and university laboratories.
Author : Kim Allen Scott
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
Page : 332 pages
File Size : 27,11 MB
Release : 2015-04-28
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0806151501
Frontier soldier and explorer extraordinaire, Gustavus Cheyney Doane was no stranger to historical events. Between 1863 and 1892, he fought in the Civil War, participated in every major Indian battle in Montana Territory, and led the first scientific reconnaissance into the Yellowstone country—his report on that expedition even contributed to the establishment of Yellowstone National Park. Doane was always close to being at the right place at the right time to secure lasting fame, yet that fame always eluded him, even after his death. Kim Allen Scott rescues Doane from obscurity to tell the tale of an educated and inventive man who strove in vain for recognition throughout his life. Yellowstone Denied is a psychological portrait of a complex and intriguing individual. During his thirty years in uniform, Doane nearly achieved the celebrity he sought, but twists of fate and, at times, his own questionable behavior denied it in the end. Scott’s critical biography now examines the man’s accomplishments and failures alike, and traces the frustrated efforts of Doane’s widow to see her husband properly enshrined in history. Yellowstone Denied is also a revealing look at military culture, scientific discovery, and western expansion, and it gives Doane the credit long denied him.
Author : Hampton Sides
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 482 pages
File Size : 36,29 MB
Release : 2015-05-26
Category : History
ISBN : 0307946916
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A white-knuckle tale of polar exploration and heroism in the Gilded Age from the New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers. • “A splendid book in every way…a marvelous nonfiction thriller.” —The Wall Street Journal On July 8, 1879, Captain George Washington De Long and his team of thirty-two men set sail from San Francisco on the USS Jeanette. Heading deep into uncharted Arctic waters, they carried the aspirations of a young country burning to be the first nation to reach the North Pole. Two years into the harrowing voyage, the Jeannette's hull was breached by an impassable stretch of pack ice, forcing the crew to abandon ship amid torrents of rushing of water. Hours later, the ship had sunk below the surface, marooning the men a thousand miles north of Siberia, where they faced a terrifying march with minimal supplies across the endless ice pack. Enduring everything from snow blindness and polar bears to ferocious storms and labyrinths of ice, the crew battled madness and starvation as they struggled desperately to survive. With thrilling twists and turns, In The Kingdom of Ice is a spellbinding tale of heroism and determination in the most brutal place on Earth.
Author : Karen Routledge
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 253 pages
File Size : 19,81 MB
Release : 2018-12-10
Category : History
ISBN : 022658013X
Many Americans imagine the Arctic as harsh, freezing, and nearly uninhabitable. The living Arctic, however—the one experienced by native Inuit and others who work and travel there—is a diverse region shaped by much more than stereotype and mythology. Do You See Ice? presents a history of Arctic encounters from 1850 to 1920 based on Inuit and American accounts, revealing how people made sense of new or changing environments. Routledge vividly depicts the experiences of American whalers and explorers in Inuit homelands. Conversely, she relates stories of Inuit who traveled to the northeastern United States and were similarly challenged by the norms, practices, and weather they found there. Standing apart from earlier books of Arctic cultural research—which tend to focus on either Western expeditions or Inuit life—Do You See Ice? explores relationships between these two groups in a range of northern and temperate locations. Based on archival research and conversations with Inuit Elders and experts, Routledge’s book is grounded by ideas of home: how Inuit and Americans often experienced each other’s countries as dangerous and inhospitable, how they tried to feel at home in unfamiliar places, and why these feelings and experiences continue to resonate today. The author intends to donate all royalties from this book to the Elders’ Room at the Angmarlik Center in Pangnirtung, Nunavut.
Author : A G D Maran
Publisher : Fast-Print Publishing
Page : 297 pages
File Size : 18,21 MB
Release : 2013-12-16
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 1780357044
Golf at the North Pole? Unlikely, but it happened. The author persuaded the crew of a Russian ice breaker to transport his golf clubs to the North Pole and during the journey he sought out other possible golfers who might be game enough to participate in a tournament. As the ship progressed to 90 degrees north he was continually reminded of the exploits of earlier Polar explorers who did not had the advantage of heated cabins, berths, good food and the attentions of a delightful crew. He tells the tales of the early explorers who attempted to find the North Pole by airships, balloons and boats and while telling these tales he intersperses the narrative with golfing stories that appear pertinent. He is now the North Pole Open Champion but his friends know that that is not meaningful.
Author : Anthony Dalton
Publisher : Dundurn
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 18,51 MB
Release : 2010-09-20
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1554888069
Dewey Soper first travelled to the Arctic in 1923. During the next seven years he accepted three research postings on Baffin Island, each of which lasted between one and two years. In 1929 he discovered the breeding grounds of the blue goose in the southwest corner of Baffin Island. He also charted the final unknown region of Baffin Island's coastline. Later in life he worked in the western Arctic. Outside the Far North, Soper studied bison in Wood Buffalo National Park, documented bird life on the Prairies, and made a detailed study of small mammals in Alberta. Soper was the last of the great pioneer naturalists in Canada. He was also a skilled and meticulous explorer. As a naturalist, he was a major contributor to the National Museum of Canada, as well as to the University of Alberta and other museums across the country.
Author : Leonard F. Guttridge
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 25,40 MB
Release : 2023-10-17
Category : History
ISBN : 1476650810
Corporal Leonard Guttridge was among the many unsung heroes of the Battle of Britain--the Royal Air Force mechanics and armorers who patched bullet holes, repaired engines, refueled empty tanks and replenished ammunition, enabling outnumbered pilots to return to the skies. His journal, written in tiny notebooks, at moments under enemy fire, chronicles the battle and its human toll, and portrays the tenacity of the RAF ground crews without whom the British could not have defeated the German Luftwaffe.
