The North Pole (Illustrated)

"The North Pole" is Capt. Robert E. Peary's personal account of his expedition to attempt to be the first Man to reach the Geographic North Pole. Peary achieved his dream in 1909 (although doubt has subsequently been raised as to whether he actually arrived at the Pole itself, or only got within 5 miles of it.) To his horror, on returning from the Arctic Peary discovered that Frederick Cook, his companion from a previous trip to the Arctic was claiming to have beaten him to the Pole by an entire year. The Scientific and Geographic Community cast great doubt on Cook's claim, and threw their weight behind Peary, but the controversy raged for years. Nonetheless, Peary retained a strong claim to have been the first man to reach the North Pole, pioneering the use of the customs and practices of the Native Eskimo people to achieve his aim. This book is testament to his incredible grit and determination to achieve his goal, and as well as the text it contains a variety of original photographs from the expedition. with introduction by President Theodore Roosevelt