Book description
The story of the only person to attempt to reach the North Pole by
balloon, and the golden age of Polar Exploration.
In August 1930 a Norwegian sloop sailing in the Arctic Ocean moored at
a remote island. Here, the crew members found a body leaning against a
rock. When they saw a large monogram 'A' on the body's jacket, they
realized who the unfortunate adventurer had been: S. A. Andrée, the
Swede who, in 1897, set off to discover the North Pole, one of the last
unmapped places on earth.
The Ice Balloon is the story of the heroic era of polar exploration,
and the dream of conquering one of the most inhumane landscapes on
earth. In this golden age of discovery, Andrée's ambition was the most
original and remarkable. For, of the thousand or so people who had gone
looking for the Pole, most of whom perished on the way, only Andrée used
a balloon. 'Wilkinson's writing is so flawless and engaging that I'd
read him on a packed subway at rush hour.' Sebastian Junger
'The Ice Balloon tells a remarkable story, while also allowing those of
other explorers and their ill-fated expeditions to float gracefully
through its pages' Carl Wilkinson, Financial Times
'It does take a writer of Wilkinson's diligence of research, elegance
of style and perfect pitch as a storyteller to give a doomed, forgotten
hero a fine memorial to his heroic adventure in the golden, amateur age
of polar exploration' Iain Finlayson, The Times
'Wilkinson writes with insight and flair, artfully interleaving
Andrée's story with a brief history of Arctic exploration … his prose
style suits the spare polar landscape, making his occasional poetic
touches even more effective … He understands that the value of polar
stories lies in our endless love of discovery and the drama of being
human.' Sara Wheeler, New York Times ALEC WILKINSON began writing for
The New Yorker in 1980. Before that, he was a policeman in Wellfleet,
Massachusetts, and before that he was a rock-and-roll musician. He has
published nine books, including The Happiest Man in the World and The
Protest Singer. His honours include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lyndhurst
Prize, and a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award.
