Reviews for The Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture

The average rating for The Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-03-17 00:00:00 Jeff Knowles An enjoyable, thought-provoking read, but I'm a sucker for anything Arctic and this particular book overlaps with a past research project of my own (wish I'd had this available then!). Robinson relies on a device of pairing explorers to propel the book, with most chapters engaging two different men who embody different attitudes about masculinity and science as they came to bear on Arctic exploration - Wellman and Peary, Peary and Cook, Hall and Hayes, etc. It's a helpful device, and lets him pin down key shifts over time as well as creating some narrative tension. I wish, though, that more attention had been paid to the "American Culture" of the title beyond the wealthy sponsors of expeditions (including newspapers and geographic societies). There's little sense of how mass culture responded to the age of Arctic Fever, and I think that would have added a dimension. This doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the book as it is, just that it didn't address (or claim to address) some of the questions it raised for me.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-04-06 00:00:00 Brad Mcghee A great overview of the early life of Abraham Lincoln in language that is child friendly and informative.