The Greatest Show in the Arctic

The American Exploration of Franz Josef Land, 1898–1905

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, 19th Century
Cover of the book The Greatest Show in the Arctic by P. J. Capelotti, University of Oklahoma Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: P. J. Capelotti ISBN: 9780806154459
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press Publication: May 6, 2016
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press Language: English
Author: P. J. Capelotti
ISBN: 9780806154459
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Publication: May 6, 2016
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press
Language: English

In Gilded Age America, Arctic explorers were fabulous celebrities—assured of riches and near-immortality so long as they reached the North Pole first. Of the many attempts to meet that goal, three American expeditions, launched from the Russian archipelago of Franz Josef Land, ended in abject failure, their exploits consigned to near-oblivion. Even so, these ventures—the Wellman expedition (1898–99), the Baldwin-Ziegler (1901–2), and the Fiala-Ziegler (1903–5)—have much to tell us about the personalities, politics, and economics of exploration in their day. In The Greatest Show in the Arctic, the first book to chronicle all three expeditions, P. J. Capelotti explores what went right and what, in the end, went tragically wrong.

The cast of colorful characters from the Franz Josef Land forays included Walter Wellman, a Chicago journalist and bon vivant running from debts, his mistress, and an illegitimate daughter; Evelyn Briggs Baldwin, a deranged meteorologist with a fetish for balloons and a passion for Swedish conserves; and Anthony Fiala, a pious photographer in search of God in the Arctic. Featuring an international cast of supporting characters worthy of a three-ring circus, The Greatest Show in the Arctic follows each of the three expeditions in turn, from spectacular feats of financing to their bitter ends. Along the way, the explorers accumulated considerable geographic knowledge and left a legacy of place-names.

Through close study of the expeditions’ journals, Capelotti reveals that the Franz Josef Land endeavors foundered chiefly because of poor leadership and internal friction, not for lack of funding, as historians have previously suspected. Presenting tales of noble intentions, novel inventions, and epic miscalculations, The Greatest Show in the Arctic brings fresh life to a unique and underappreciated story of American exploration.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In Gilded Age America, Arctic explorers were fabulous celebrities—assured of riches and near-immortality so long as they reached the North Pole first. Of the many attempts to meet that goal, three American expeditions, launched from the Russian archipelago of Franz Josef Land, ended in abject failure, their exploits consigned to near-oblivion. Even so, these ventures—the Wellman expedition (1898–99), the Baldwin-Ziegler (1901–2), and the Fiala-Ziegler (1903–5)—have much to tell us about the personalities, politics, and economics of exploration in their day. In The Greatest Show in the Arctic, the first book to chronicle all three expeditions, P. J. Capelotti explores what went right and what, in the end, went tragically wrong.

The cast of colorful characters from the Franz Josef Land forays included Walter Wellman, a Chicago journalist and bon vivant running from debts, his mistress, and an illegitimate daughter; Evelyn Briggs Baldwin, a deranged meteorologist with a fetish for balloons and a passion for Swedish conserves; and Anthony Fiala, a pious photographer in search of God in the Arctic. Featuring an international cast of supporting characters worthy of a three-ring circus, The Greatest Show in the Arctic follows each of the three expeditions in turn, from spectacular feats of financing to their bitter ends. Along the way, the explorers accumulated considerable geographic knowledge and left a legacy of place-names.

Through close study of the expeditions’ journals, Capelotti reveals that the Franz Josef Land endeavors foundered chiefly because of poor leadership and internal friction, not for lack of funding, as historians have previously suspected. Presenting tales of noble intentions, novel inventions, and epic miscalculations, The Greatest Show in the Arctic brings fresh life to a unique and underappreciated story of American exploration.

More books from University of Oklahoma Press

Cover of the book Wahb by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book Plowman's Folly by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book Women in Ancient America by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book Once Upon a Time in War by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book Tlacaelel Remembered by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book Battleship Oklahoma BB-37 by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book Literacy and Intellectual Life in the Cherokee Nation, 1820–1906 by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book Contesting the Borderlands by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book The Civil War Years in Utah by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book "That's What They Used to Say" by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book The Indian Reform Letters of Helen Hunt Jackson, 1879–1885 by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book Warrior Nations by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book Converting the Rosebud by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book The Taken by P. J. Capelotti
Cover of the book Return to Aztlan by P. J. Capelotti
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy