Genre Guide: Polar Nonfiction

Dozens of missions set out for the Arctic during the first half of the nineteenth century; all ended in failure and many in disaster, as men found themselves starving to death in the freezing wilderness, sometimes with nothing left to eat but their companions’ remains.

Apsley Cherry-Garrard, the youngest member of Scott’s team and one of three men to make and survive the notorious Winter Journey draws on his firsthand experiences as well as the diaries of his compatriots to create a stirring and detailed account of Scott’s legendary expedition.

In the fall of 1909 American explorers Robert Peary and Frederick Cook both claimed to have discovered the North Pole, sparking a vicious feud in international scientific and geographic circles. At the same time, the rivalry between two powerful New York City newspapers fanned the flames of the so-called polar controversy, as each paper committed itself to an opposing explorer and fought desperately to defend him.

Hungry for the sublime and haunted over her best friend’s tragic death, Stephanie leaves her entire life behind to live in Antarctica as an ordinary worker and tests the limits of survival. Throughout, Stephanie also traces the stories of female, queer, and BIPOC explorers often left out of the annals of Antarctic history.

Bound for Antarctica, the Endurance set sail from England in August 1914. In January 1915, after battling its way through a thousand miles of pack ice and now only a day’s sail short of its destination, the Endurance became locked in an island of ice. For ten months the ice-moored ship drifted northwest before it was finally crushed. But for Ernest Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven men the ordeal had barely begun.

In July 1881, Lt. A.W. Greely and his crew of 24 scientists and explorers were bound for the last region unmarked on global maps. Their goal: Farthest North. What would follow was one of the most extraordinary and terrible voyages ever made.

Michael Palin brings the fascinating story of the Erebus and its occupants to life, from its construction as a bomb vessel in 1826 through the flagship years of James Clark Ross’s Antarctic expedition and finally to Sir John Franklin’s quest for the holy grail of navigation – a route through the Northwest Passage, where the ship disappeared into the depths of the sea for more than 150 years.

In the dark years following the Civil War, America’s foremost Arctic explorer, Charles Francis Hall, became a figure of national pride when he embarked on a harrowing, landmark expedition – neither the ship nor its captain would ever return. What transpired was a tragic death and whispers of murder, as well as a horrifying ordeal through the heart of an Arctic winter, when men fought starvation, madness, and each other upon the ever-shifting ice.

Triumphantly returning from the North Pole on May 24, 1928, the world-famous exploring airship Italia – code-named N-4 – was struck by a terrible storm and crashed somewhere over the Arctic ice, triggering the largest polar rescue mission in history.

In August 1897, young Belgian commandant Adrien de Gerlache’s plans to be first to the magnetic South Pole swiftly went awry. After a series of costly setbacks, the commandant faced two bad options: turn back in defeat and spare his men the devastating Antarctic winter or recklessly chase fame by sailing deeper into the freezing waters.

On July 8, 1879, the USS Jeannette set sail from San Francisco to cheering crowds in the grip of “Arctic Fever.” Two years into the harrowing voyage the hull was breached by ice, and the crew abandoned the ship and watched it sink. They then found themselves marooned a thousand miles north of Siberia with only the barest supplies.

Ice Ghosts weaves together the epic story of the lost Franklin Expedition of 1845 – whose two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and their crew of 129 were lost to the Arctic ice – with the modern tale of the scientists, divers, and local Inuit behind the recent incredible discoveries of the wrecks.