This thought-provoking examination of the most influential and popular accounts of polar exploration--from Viking settlers and Renaissance conquerors to expeditions led by such famous explorers as Ernest Shackleton, Richard Byrd, and Roald Amundsen--emphasizes themes of endurance, greed, obsession, and self-sacrifice in tales that have captured the popular imagination for centuries. The stories that consider the life-threatening risks of polar exploration, the enduring appeal of romanticized frozen landscapes, and issues of national identity that are linked with exploration, also include descriptions of indigenous communities, forgotten stories of women at the poles, Robert Falcon Scott's meticulous account of his own dying, and purely imaginary approaches to polar travel such as "Frankenstein" and "Winnie the Pooh."

"Moss's book is primarily a literary historical examination of the myth and reality of Antarctica and the Arctic from the point of view of European settlers and explorers, including the history of Norse settlements in Greenland; the expeditions of Parry, Nansen, Franklin and others; and Arctic myth and imagery in literature from the likes of Donne, Mary Shelley and Lewis Carroll. Well-written and interesting in terms of cultural criticism, Moss's work suffers from a number of factual and bibliographic omissions. Part V, on the experience of European women in the Arctic and their interactions with Inuit women, presents new material and a point of view entirely absent from the writings of male explorers. But, when discussing the Norse in Greenland, she relies on ambiguous archaeological data from the 1920"s and 1930"s, ignoring newer, more conclusive research. University of Alberta research on the Franklin expedition is also ignored, and her discussion of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner fails to note that Coleridge met Samuel Hearne and had knowledge of his experiences in Northern Canada. Further, Moss admits that her own northernmost visits were to Tromsø, Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland, all markedly different in landscape and climate from the Siberian Coast, Greenland, and northern Canada; yet she writes as if her perceptions of these relatively benign places is correlative. Though worth reading for the casual historian, readers should bear in mind that the record here is far from complete." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Moss (English and American literature, U. of Kent, UK) documents polar exploration throughout history, noting that while some adventurers have become iconic figures, others have become relatively obscure. Written for general readers and history buffs, this volume covers the earliest travels of the Vikings and Renaissance Era explorers to the trailblazing achievements of Parry, Byrd and Amundsen. A section is devoted to literary representations of polar exploration in fiction such as Frankenstein and even Winnie the Pooh. Distributed by IPG. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)