The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the Northwest Passage and The North Pole, 1818-1909

FROM OUR EDITORS

Arctic Grail reads like a virtual who's who of polar explorers, including Edward Parry, the pious trailblazer; Adolphus Greely, the adventurous Civil War veteran; Robert McClure, who made the claim to be the first to find the Northwest Passage; Roald Amundsen, who was able to accomplish so much with his tiny sloop; and Robert Peary, the ruthless explorer of 1909. As Robert W. Service said, "The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold."

ANNOTATION

A controversial revisionist history of the search for the Northwest Passage and the North Pole.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This is the complete saga of the pursuit for two of the world's greatest geographical prizes--the elusive Passage linking the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the North Pole.

Culled from extensive research of handwritten diaries and private journals, The Arctic Grail is the definitive book on the age of arctic exploration and adventure.

Journey across the ice with a Who's Who of polar explorers, men of every temperament, including the pious and ambitious Edward Perry, the first explorer to probe deep into the Arctic labyrinth; Adolphus Greely, a Civil War veteran who had to watch his men starve to death on Ellesmere Island; Robert McClure, who claimed that he was the first to find the fabled Northwest Passage; and the flawed hero John Franklin, a meek naval officer whose expeditions were responsible for the deaths of more men than those of any other Arctic explorer. Travel with the adventurer Roald Amundsen, the cool Norwegian who completed a voyage in a tiny sloop that the British Navy failed to accomplish with its great three-masted ships; Frederick Cook, who lied about reaching the North Pole; and finally, the ruthless and paranoid Robert Peary, who claimed to have reached the North Pole in 1909.

As much about the explorers who braved impossible odds as it is about each expedition, The Arctic Grail is an epic account of the Golden Age of Exploration at the top of the world.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The literature of Arctic exploration teems with exciting stories of hardship, valor, conflict and mystery. There are three distinct periods of exploration: the quest for the Northwest Passage by the British Navy, the 15-year search for the lost Franklin Expedition and the attempts to reach the North Pole. Berton ( The Mysterious North ) combines these voyages into a single narrative that focuses on the explorers. We see the mindset of the British, unwilling to take advice from whalers and, for 90 years, refusing to avail themselves of the dogsleds and Eskimo clothing best suited to Arctic conditions. We follow the progression from the desire for discovery and scientific knowledge to obsession with national pride and personal ambition. Berton examines in detail the Cook-Peary controversy and concludes that both men were charlatans and neither reached the North Pole; modern scholarship supports this theory. Readers who think the ultimate adventure took place at the South Pole should rediscover the Arctic explorations. Illustrations. (October)

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