Realm of Ice and Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, and History's Greatest Arctic Rescue

(Hardback)

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Arctic explorer and American visionary Walter Wellman pioneered both polar and trans-Atlantic airship aviation, making history's first attempts at each. Wellman has been cast as a self-promoting egomaniac known mostly for his catastrophic failures. Instead he was a courageous innovator who pushed the boundaries of polar exploration and paved the way for the ultimate conquest of the North Pole-which would be achieved not by dogsled or airplane, but by airship. American explorer Dr. Frederick Cook was the first to claim he made it to the North Pole in 1908. A year later, so did American Robert Peary, but both Cook's and Peary's claims had been seriously questioned. There was enough doubt that Norwegian explorer extraordinaire Roald Amundsen-who'd made history and a name for himself by being first to sail through the Northwest Passage and first man to the South Pole-picked up where Walter Wellman left off, attempting to fly to the North Pole by airship. He would go in the Norge, designed by Italian aeronautical engineer Umberto Nobile. The 350-foot Norge flew over the North Pole on May 12, 1926, and Amundsen was able to accurately record and verify their exact location. However, the engineer Nobile felt slighted by Amundsen. Two years later, Nobile returned, this time in the Italia, backed by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini. This was an Italian enterprise, and Nobile intended to win back the global accolades and reputation he believed Amundsen had stripped from him. The journey ended in disaster, death, and accusations of cannibalism, launching one of the great rescue operations the world had ever seen. Realm of Ice and Sky is the riveting tale of the men who first flew the most advanced technological airships of their time to the top of the world, risking and even giving their lives for science, country, and polar immortality.

Reviews

Praise for Buddy Levy:

"It is the travails of lesser-known American journalist Walter Wellman and Italian balloonist Umberto Nobile that will likely spark acute reader interest and discussion (this is an excellent choice for book groups) ... Levy excels at writing vivid history about the polar regions and exploration, and he's written another winner." Booklist

"Levy is a master of taking us on history's greatest adventures, from the Grand Canyon to the Amazon Rainforest, and now to the heights of the frigid North Pole" Paul Rosolie, author of Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon

"At the beginning of the twentieth century, no human pursuit was more difficult or more dangerous than polar exploration--until early aviation, in all its deadly forms, was added to the icy mix. In Realm of Ice and Sky, Levy tells the most important and astonishing of these stories with consummate skill, leaving readers with their jaws on the floor, extremely grateful not to be either in the air or on the ice with these brave and wild men." Candice Millard, national bestselling author of River of the Gods and River of Doubt

"Levy writes beautifully about the cold. His Arctic is fearsome and sublime, his ice a living thing. His passion for this alien landscape is infectioussomething to appreciate from underneath a pile of blankets while wearing very warm socks." New York Times Book Review on Empire of Ice and Stone

"The gripping account of a fatal polar adventure. Hair-raising suffering and heroism in the Arctic." Kirkus Reviews on Empire of Ice and Stone

"Full of evocative descriptions, harrowing action scenes, and incisive character sketches, this is a worthy addition to the literature of Arctic exploration." Publishers Weekly on Empire of Ice and Stone

"[Levy] is a master storyteller whose latest thoroughly researched, spellbinding narrative is both profoundly horrifying and heroic...His well-paced, captivating writing is chock-full of vivid imagery and description, making a gripping true tale all the more haunting, powerful, and hard to put down...an intense and riveting read." Washington State Magazine on Empire of Ice and Stone

"Levy tells the incredible tale of the genius of Bartlett leading his unseasoned crew over the ice to Wrangel Island in the dead of winter, and then of his own desperate 700-nautical-mile journey over the ice to Siberia to try to find help to rescue the survivors, vividly bringing this harrowing tale to life." Explorers Journal on Empire of Ice and Stone

Author Bio

BUDDY LEVY is the author of ten books, including Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition and Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disasterous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk, as well as Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs and River of Darkness: Francisco Orellana's Voyage of Death and Discovery Down the Amazon. He is co-author of No Barriers: A Blind Man's Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon and GERONIMO: Leadership Strategies of An American Warrior. His books have been published in eight languages and won numerous awards. He lives in Idaho.