"When Captain John Buddington of New London, Conn., set out on a whaling expedition in September 1855, he discovered the HMS Resolute, a British navy ship without a soul on board. How the Resolute made it from its British home port to Arctic Sea whaling territory to a central place in the White House's Oval Office makes up the core of this gripping historical adventure. Describing the explorers who set out to conquer the Arctic 'Otherworld' as the 'astronauts of their day,' Pulitzer nominee Sandler creates a taut, absorbing story and a multi-faceted portrait of heroism that encompasses the overwhelming missteps, hardships and almost irrational tenacity that sprung from British naval secretary John Barrow's decision that Britain would discover the fabled Northwest Passage around the new world-a task he believed would take no longer than 'a single season.' That decision would be followed by 40 years of failed search-and-rescue missions-of which the Resolute was just one-after the initial 1845 voyage, led by Captain John Franklin, disappeared. The discovery of the Resolute represented both a vital clue in Franklin's disappearance and a haunting symbol of its nation's inexhaustible determination to make navigating the passage a uniquely British triumph. Sandler eloquently illustrates how the expedition became a new quest for the Holy Grail and provides an adventure story worthy of that tradition. 20 photos, 30 b/w illustrations." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

In 1845, a British expedition led by Sir John Franklin disappeared in the Canadian Arctic while searching for the Northwest Passage. Subsequent search-and-rescue missions traveled from England over a 40-year period, including Queen Victoria's greatest naval vessel, the HMS Resolute. Abandoned by its leader and crew when it became locked in Arctic ice in 1854, the Resolute was found empty and drifting by a Connecticut whaler a year later, and was returned to England by the U.S. government. Pulitzer Prize nominee Sandler offers a detailed account of the quest to find the Northwest Passage, Franklin's ill-fated expedition, the Resolute's journey, and the missions that followed in the years after. Illustrated with b&w and color photographs and maps, the text is academic but accessible to the general reader. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Almost everyone knows the photo of John F. Kennedy, Jr. as a young boy, peering out from under his father's desk in the Oval Office. But few realize that the desk itself plays a part in one of the world's most extraordinary mysteries--a dramatic tale that has never before been told in its full scope.