Product DescriptionThe story of the only person to attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon, and the golden age of Polar Exploration.In August 1930, a Norwegian sloop, sailing in the Arctic Ocean, stopped at a remote island, where its crew members foudn a book, together with a boathook stamped 'Andree's Pol. Exp 1896'. Not far from the boat was a body leaning against a rock, with its frozen legs extended. They carefully opened the jacket the corpse was wearing. When they saw a large monogram 'A', they knew who they were looking at: S. A. Andrée, the Swede who, in 1897, set off to discover the North Pole, one of the last unmapped places on earth.The Ice Balloon is the story of the heroic ago of polar exploration, and the dream of conquering one of the most inhumane landscapes on earth. In this golden age of discovery, Andrée's ambition was the most original and remarkable, with many comparing him to Columbus for novelty and daring. For, of the thousand or so people who had gone looking for the Pole, at least seven hundred and fifty of whom had died, only Andrée used a balloon.About the AuthorALEC WILKINSON began writing for The New Yorker in 1980. Before that, he was a policeman in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, and before that he was a rock-and-roll musician. He has published nine books, including The Happiest Man in the World and The Protest Singer. His honours include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lyndhurst Prize, and a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award.

Ice Balloon

History

Alec Wilkinson

World

Fourth Estate

The Ice Balloon: S. A. Andree and the Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration

Blackstone Audio,Inc.

Blackstone Audiobooks

When I was twenty-three years old, five months out of college, with a degree in music, and without any idea of what to do with myself, I took a job as a policeman in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, and resolved to stay with it for a year because I thought it would do me good. I was lonely much of the time, as well as scared, surprised, excited, embarrassed, self-righteous, and many other things, too. I spent hours at a stretch hoping nothing serious would happen when I was working alone; I never quite shook the feeling that I was a fraud; and on several occasions, when it all seemed to be too much, I meant to quit, but I never did. -Alec Wilkinson
About the Author
Alec Wilkinson has been a staff writer at the New Yorker for many years, and also contributes to such magazines as DoubleTake, Esquire, and Rolling Stone. He is the author of five books, including Moonshine: A Life in Pursuit of White Liquor.
"His reporter's eye for detail is omnivorous...ear for voices is fine and precise and his perceptions of and compassion for his fellow officers are profound. Never patronizing, never amused at their expense; he portrays them as they are: underpaid, underappreciated rural Americans struggling to make it from day to day."-New York Times Book Review
"Midnights portrays the voices and routines of believable men... he conveys his experiences with wisdom and sophistication."-Chicago Tribune

Midnights: A Year With the Wellfleet Police

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Ruminator Books

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Books by Alec Wilkinson