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Author Larson, Edward J. (Edward John), author.

Title To the edges of the Earth : 1909, the race for the three poles, and the climax of the age of exploration / Edward J. Larson.

Publication Info. New York, NY : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2018]

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Burlington Public Library - Adult Department  BLT 918.804 LARSON    Check Shelf
 Farmington, Main Library - Adult Department  910.9 LAR    Check Shelf
 Rocky Hill, Cora J. Belden Library - Adult Department  910.911 LARSON    Check Shelf
 Southington Library - Adult  910.911 LAR    Check Shelf
Edition First edition.
Description xx, 329 pages, [24] unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm
Summary "From the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, an entwined narrative of the most adventurous year of all time, when three expeditions simultaneously raced to the top, bottom, and heights of the world. As 1909 dawned, the greatest jewels of exploration--set at the world's frozen extremes--lay unclaimed: the North and South Poles and the so-called Third Pole, the "pole of altitude," located in unexplored heights of the Himalayas. Before the calendar turned, three expeditions had faced death, mutiny, and the harshest conditions on the planet to plant flags at the furthest edges of the Earth. In the course of one extraordinary year, Americans Robert Peary and Matthew Henson were hailed worldwide as the discoverers of the North Pole; Britain's Ernest Shackleton had set a new geographic farthest-south record, while his expedition mate, Australian Douglas Mawson, had reached the south magnetic pole; and at the roof of the world, Italy's Duke of the Abruzzi had attained an altitude record that would stand for a generation, the result of the first major mountaineering expedition to the Himalaya's eastern Karakoram, where the daring aristocrat attempted K2 and established the standard route up the most notorious mountain on the planet. Drawing on extensive archival and on-the-ground research, Edward J. Larson weaves these narratives into one thrilling adventure-story. Larson, author of the acclaimed polar history Empire of Ice, draws on his own voyages to the Himalayas; the Arctic; and the ice sheets of the Antarctic, where he himself reached the South Pole and lived in Shackleton's Cape Royds hut as a fellow in the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. These three legendary expeditions--overlapping in time, danger, and stakes--were glorified upon their return, their leaders celebrated as the preeminent heroes of their day. Stripping away the myth, Larson, a master historian, illuminates one of the great, overlooked tales of exploration, revealing the extraordinary human achievement at the heart of these journeys."--Dust jacket.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [283]-314) and index.
Contents Preface: The wonderful year 1909 -- The aristocracy of adventure, circa 1909 -- The audacity of adventure, circa 1909 -- The allure of adventure, circa 1909 -- The great game -- The Peary way -- Beyond the screaming sixties -- The savage North -- Poles apart -- On top of the world -- The third pole -- Returnings -- The last biscuit.
Subject Peary, Robert E. (Robert Edwin), 1856-1920.
Henson, Matthew Alexander, 1866-1955.
Shackleton, Ernest Henry, Sir, 1874-1922.
Savoia, Luigi Amedeo di, duca degli Abruzzi, 1873-1933.
British Antarctic Expedition (1907-1909)
Polar regions -- Discovery and exploration -- History -- 20th century.
Himalaya Mountains -- Discovery and exploration -- History -- 20th century.
K2 (Pakistan : Mountain) -- Description and travel.
Polar regions -- Discovery and exploration.
Mountaineering expeditions -- Pakistan -- K2 (Mountain)
Genre/Form True adventure stories.
ISBN 9780062564474 (hardcover)
0062564471 (hardcover)
9780062564481 (paperback)
006256448X (paperback)
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