Mammoth Book of Polar Journeys Book

Here is not only the biggest but the very best collection of polar writing--42 firsthand accounts of challenging the last wildernesses on Earth. Legendary heroism sits side by side with modern-day discovery of the ice caps in tragic retreat.

To explore the white stuff you always need the right stuff. We see Oates stepping outside, Byrd locked out of his hut in a blizzard, Peary losing his toes to frostbite, but forcing his weary limbs through the snow as the mercury dropped.

It was more than physical courage. Such extremes reveal what is inside too. 'We had reached the naked soul of man,' Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton recounted after his epic expedition south.