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In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette
Hampton Sides
2014, 454 pages
Nonfiction
Best-selling author Hampton Sides, author of 2001’s Ghost Soldiers, returns to the realm of non-fiction with a gripping tale of arctic exploration. In the Kingdom of Ice presents the story of Captain George De Long, an earnest and eager participant in the race to find the North Pole. In 1879, De Long and a crew of 32 embark from California with a goal of reaching the supposed “Open Sea” located above the Arctic Circle. Along the way, they explore the newly-acquired territory of Alaska before becoming locked in pack ice in the frigid Arctic Ocean. For more than two years, the USS Jeannette drifts with the ice until she can no longer, throwing the men into the sea 1,000 miles north of the most unforgiving landscape on Earth: Siberia. For the men on board, the most grueling and desperate adventure of their lives has only just begun.
Expertly handled and beautifully rendered by the capable Hampton Sides, this is a story you won’t forget.
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