The year was 1904, and the spirit of exploration was running high. Theodore Roosevelt, America's premier adventurer president, was still in the White House. The Wright Brothers's flying machine was barely off the ground; air travel was years away from reducing the globe to an accessible sphere. A few explorers determined to reach the North Pole had captured the imagination of the Western world. Many geographic regions remained undiscovered. Spurred by the challenges of reaching the unreachable and the scientific desire to pry from the earth its long-held secrets, a hardy band of gentlemen-adventurers came together to form The Explorers Club in New York City.

The idea began with Henry Collins Walsh, an author and war correspondent who had sailed with Frederick A. Cook's 1894 Arctic expedition aboard the ill-fated SS Miranda. On their return to New York, Walsh and his fellow survivors, eager to "keep green their friendship," organized The Arctic Club, which came to embrace nearly every prominent polar explorer in the United States and abroad. So successful was it that a core of its members, together with friends who had explored in other regions, decided to found the more inclusive Explorers Club. The charter members were a diverse group, representing a myriad of interests and walks of life. Their stated mission: "Promote exploration by all possible means."

Incorporated in 1905, The Explorers Club in its earliest years met in simple rented rooms. In 1965, the Club bought a Tudor-style mansion on East 70th Street in the historic Upper East Side, where it has remained ever since then.

Celebrating its centennial anniversary in 2004, today The Explorers Club is an international society dedicated to the advancement of field research, scientific exploration, and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore.

This volume, the first in what will be a long-running series of Explorers Club classics, is dedicated to the spirit of exploration. Assembled by Club member and literary giant George Plimpton, As Told at The Explorers Club will take you to all corners of the globe, with all sorts of adventures and explorers, from Amundsen to Lindbergh, from the Arctic to Antarctica, and all points in between.

The year was 1904, and the spirit of exploration was running high. Theodore Roosevelt, America's premier adventurer president, was still in the White House. The Wright brothers' flying machine was barely off the ground; air travel was years away from reducing the globe to an accessible sphere. A few explorers determined to reach the North Pole had captured the imagination of the Western world. Many geographic regions remained undiscovered. Spurred by the challenges of reaching the unreachable and the scientific desire to pry from the earth its long-held secrets, a hardy band of gentleman-adventurers came together to form The Explorers Club in New York City. Their stated mission: "Promote exploration by all possible means."

In its earliest years, The Explorers Club met in simple rented rooms. In 1965, the Club bought a Tudor-style mansion on East 70th Street in the historic Upper East Side, where it has remained ever since.

Having celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2004, today The Explorers Club is an international society dedicated to the advancement of field research, scientific exploration, and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore.

As Told at the Explorers Club will take you to all corners of the globe, with all sorts of adventures and explorers, from Amundsen to Lindbergh, from the Arctic to Antarctica, and all points in between.