A contemporary source about S.A. Andrée's failed attempt to reach the North Pole in his balloon "Le Pole Nord."

By Airship to the North Pole" chronicles the adventures of Swedish engineer Salomon August Andree, who made the first failed attempt to reach the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon in 1897, and of American journalist Walter Wellman who organized and led three unsuccessful air expeditions from 1907 to 1909.

Draws on diaries, private letters, newspaper reports, and other primary sources to examine the careers of two rival explorers and the controversy over which one had been the first to reach the North Pole.

From 1850 to 1854, the ambitious Commander Robert McClure captained the HMS Investigator on a voyage in search of the missing Franklin Expedition, which sailed from England into the Arctic in 1845 to map the last uncharted section of the North-West Passage.

In Gilded Age America, Arctic explorers were fabulous celebrities--assured of riches and near-immortality so long as they reached the North Pole first. Of the many attempts to meet that goal, three American expeditions, launched from the Russian archipelago of Franz Josef Land, ended in abject failure, their exploits consigned to near-oblivion. Even so, these ventures--the Wellman expedition (1898-99), the Baldwin-Ziegler (1901-2), and the Fiala-Ziegler (1903-5)--have much to tell us about the personalities, politics, and economics of exploration in their day.

In this grand and astonishing tale, Alec Wilkinson brings us the story of S. A. Andrée, the visionary Swedish aeronaut who, in 1897, during the great age of Arctic endeavor, left to discover the North Pole by flying to it in a hydrogen balloon. Called by a British military officer "the most original and remarkable attempt ever made in Arctic exploration," Andrée's expedition was followed by nearly the entire world, and it made him an international legend.

The Man Who Ate His Boots is a rich and engaging work of narrative history--a multifaceted portrait of noble adventure and of imperialistic folly.

"North by Degree: New Perspectives on Arctic Exploration is a stimulating volume of papers on the history of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Arctic exploration." - From publisher

These essays trace the history of the British search for the Northwest Passage - the Arctic sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans - from the early modern era to the start of the nineteenth century.

In 1909, two men laid rival claims to this crown jewel of exploration. A century later, the battle rages still. This book is about one of the most enduring and vitriolic feuds in the history of exploration.

The publication of the Frederick A. Cook Society that began in 1989.

Based on over fifteen years of research, Antarctica Unveiled tells the story of Robert Falcon Scott's first Antarctic expedition, and expedition that has largely been erased from public perception by the mass attention devoted to the drama of his last expedition. David E. Yelverton first recounts the half-century of campaigning that led to a pan European assault on the unknown continent at the dawn of the twentieth century. The book takes the reader along on the Discovery Expedition and into the terrain that faced Scott and his companions they led parties into unknown-and often dauntingly mountainous-territory to bring back the data and specimens that launched a century of research.

This book outlines the expedition of two explorers in the height of the "heroic age" of polar exploration: Australian scientist Douglas Mawson's1909 Antarctic expedition and British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 attempt to cross Antarctica.

In 1933 Antarctica was essentially unexplored. Admiral Richard Byrd launched his Second Expedition to chart the southernmost continent, primarily relying on the muscle power of dog teams and their drivers who skied or ran beside the loaded sledges as they traveled. The life-threatening challenges of moving glaciers, invisible crevasses, and horrific storms compounded the difficulties of isolation, darkness, and the unimaginable cold that defined the men's lives. Paine's diaries represent the only published contemporary account written by a member of the Second Expedition.

This collection of compelling eye-witness accounts showcases the very best writing on the Antarctic, from Ernest Shackleton on the loss of the Endurance to Lynne Cox on her epic, icy swim in 2002. Includes 35 first-hand accounts of men and women challenging one of the Earth’s last true wildernesses, encompassing both legendary tales of heroism and shocking contemporary accounts of the impact of global warming on the only undeveloped continent.

Who were the men who set off with Douglas Mawson on his heroic exploration of Antarctica? A fascinating and illuminating memoir of the intrepid adventurers who helped shape the legend.

Whether you know nothing at all about the Antarctic or actually live and work there, you'll enjoy reading Women in the Antarctic. You'll read many fascinating firsthand accounts of the women whose courage and undaunted spirit of adventure made the Antarctic much less remote to the world's social and scientific communities. The only book of its kind, Women in the Antarctic recounts the journeys of over 36 women--Navy personnel, research psychologists, scientists, members of the ASA (Antarctic Support Associates), and the American Women's Trans-Antarctic Expedition team members. You'll hear their voices and stories rise above the chilling howl of the Antarctic wind and come to understand the social and interpersonal impact such nontraditional female behavior had--and still has--on the world.

These travellers' tales have one thing in common: they are true. Antarctica is the driest, the windiest, the highest continent on earth. And the least known. This anthology offers a diverse collection of gripping autobiographical first impressions of travelers of all kinds to Antarctica. From the very famous, to the many long forgotten expeditioners and voyagers, whose stories are some of the most extraordinary tales of courage and daring ever published.

Memoirs of Edith "Jackie" Ronne, the first American woman to set foot on the Antarctic continent and winter-over.

Captain James Cook is justly famous for his explorations of the southern Pacific Ocean, but his contributions to the exploration of the northern Pacific and the Arctic are arguably equally significant. On his third and final great voyage, Cook surveyed the northwest American coast in the hopes of finding the legendary Northwest Passage. Accompanying an exhibition of the same name, Arctic Ambitions: Captain Cook and the Northwest Passage sheds new light on Cook's northern exploration.

Aviator and polar explorer Bernt Balchen's published autobiography that covers his career in polar exploration, including details about the Byrd expeditions he was part of.

Guyon Warren was one of a small group of men who spent 15 consecutive months in the Antarctic in the late 1950s. He helped establish Scott Base, right from the construction of the first hut. However, it is with his explorations out on the ice that he made his greatest contribution.

Anthony Fiala was a photographer of the 1901 Baldwin-Ziegler expedition and then led the Ziegler expedition of 1903. This is his published account of both of those journeys.

Franz Josef Land is a forbidding place, isolated by geography and history. A few intrepid explorers ventured there in the late 19th century as a stepping-stone in attempts to reach the North Pole. Chicago journalist Walter Wellman led the first American expedition to the archipelago as part of a polar expedition in 1898-1899. His second-in-command, Evelyn Briggs Baldwin, kept a journal documenting their trip. This previously unpublished journal reveals much about one of the last great periods of exploration--including the violence, chicanery, and racism that characterized much of American exploration and expansion.

Polar explorer Evelyn Briggs-Baldwin's published account detailing his exploratory expeditions of the northern polar region.

Captain Frederick Cook's controversial book in which he claims that he reached the North Pole one week before Robert Peary.

George Strong Nares' published account of the expeditions he took to find the North Pole aboard the H.M. "Alert" and the H.M. "Discovery."

Matthew Henson was the African American explorer who accompanied Robert Peary on numerous North Pole expeditions. This book gives his account of some of the trips and includes a foreword by Peary.

Explorer who claimed to be the first person to reach the North Pole, Robert Peary, wrote this book on his methods and practices for successful traveling through the Arctic.

Franklin's 1845 expedition to the Arctic on the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror was lost, resulting in the death of the entire crew and Franklin. This book recounts what is known about the expedition and was written by Augustus Henry Beesly, a British writer, in 1881.

Adolphus W. Greely was a member of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. His role was mainly focused on collecting weather-related data for the First International Polar Year. The expedition was ultimately a failure and many crew members died before a rescue mission reached the remaining men.

William Lashly joined Captain Robert Falcon Scott's 1901 and 1912 Antarctic discovery expeditions. This book is comprised of his diary entries while he was under the command of Scott during their travels.

The first-ever illustrated account of Captain James Cook's epic eighteenth-century voyages, complete with excerpts from his vivid journals. The Voyages of Captain James Cook is a handsome illustrated edition of Cook's selected writings spanning his Pacific voyages, ending in 1779 with the delivery of his salted scalp and hands to his surviving crewmembers. It's bound to enthrall anyone who appreciates history, science, art, and classic adventure.

"Leaving behind grand narratives of discovery, these essays collectively restore a degree of symmetry and contingency to our understanding of encounters between European and Indigenous people. To do this, the essays consider diverse agents of historical change, both human and inanimate: commodities, curiosities, texts, animals, and specimens moved through their own global circuits of knowledge and power." - Provided by publisher.

The 2014 discovery of HMS Erebus - a ship lost during Sir John Franklin's 1845 expedition to find the Northwest Passage - reignited popular, economic, and political interest in the Arctic's exploration, history, anthropology, and historical geography. A timely work that traces the past's influence on the present day, "Lines in the Ice" showcases the rich visual history of Arctic exploration, indigenous cultural works, and the longstanding ways in which the North has captivated the public.

"Ultima Thule" is the terrible and yet fantastic story of European and American exploration in the polar north. Based on excerpts from the explorers' logs counterbalanced by Inuit testimony, it brings to life both sides of the clash that arose when white men arrived in the Far North, dreaming of conquest and believing that they brought with them a civilization superior to that of the indigenous peoples they found.

In "Future Arctic," journalist and explorer Edward Struzik offers a clear-eyed look at the rapidly shifting dynamics in the Arctic region, a harbinger of changes that will reverberate throughout our entire world. "Future Arctic" reveals the inside story of how politics and climate change are altering the polar world in a way that will have profound effects on economics, culture, and the environment as we know it. A unique combination of extensive on-the-ground research, compelling storytelling, and policy analysis, "Future Arctic" offers a new look at the changes occurring in this remote, mysterious region and their far-reaching effects.

What do we stand to lose in a world without ice? A decade ago, novelist and short story writer Jean McNeil spent a year as writer-in-residence with the British Antarctic Survey, and four months on the world's most enigmatic continent -- Antarctica. In entering this world, McNeil unexpectedly finds herself confronting her own upbringing in the Maritimes, the lifelong effects of growing up in a cold place, and how the climates of childhood frame our emotional thermodynamics for life. Ice Diaries is a haunting story of the relationship between beauty and terror, loss and abandonment, transformation and triumph.

The world's polar regions are attracting more interest than ever before. Once regarded as barren, inhospitable places where only explorers go, the north and south polar regions have been transformed into high profile tourism destinations, increasingly visited by cruise ships as well as becoming accessible with direct flights. This timely volume provides a contemporary account of tourism and its impacts in polar regions. It explores the development and prospects of polar tourism, as well as tourism's impacts and associated change at high latitudes from environmental, economic, social and political perspectives. It draws on cutting edge research from both the Arctic and Antarctic to provide a comparative review and illustrate the real life issues arising from tourism's role in these regions.