Arctic Obsession: The Lure of the Far North

Feeding the public's unquenchable need for stories of adventure and exploration, Troubetzkoy brings a historian's touch to his chronicle of 2,000 years of forays into the Great White North. Sticking with a chronological review, Troubetzkoy (Imperial Legend; A Brief History of the Crimean War) gives accounts of countless Arctic quests, from fourth century Greek explorer Pytheas' mysterious trip to the unchartered land of "Thule" to the 2007 Russian submarine voyage that planted a flag underwater "at the precise terrestrial point of the North Pole." Along the way, the author covers all the major Arctic explorers: the father-son Viking duo of Erik the Red and Leif Eriksson; the ill-fated Brit Henry Hudson; William Seward, the man who purchased Alaska from Russia for "less than two cents an acre"; and Scandinavian Roald Amundsen, the first man to "traverse" the Northwest Passage. But most striking are the amazing tales of life and death about lesser-known figures, such as the four Russian hunters who weathered six years stranded on an icy island that truly show off Troubetzkoy's ability as a researcher and a storyteller. But as harrowing as past tales of shipwrecks, blizzards, and starvation can be, it is in the book's penultimate chapter, which deals with the effect of global climate change on the Arctic, that the author truly unveils some haunting images of our future. (Oct.)