The Arctic, A Guide to Coastal Wildlife
Tony Soper
FIELD GUIDE · 2001 · 144 PAGES
A compact, illustrated guide to the commonly encountered marine mammals and seabirds of coastal areas throughout the circumpolar north. With watercolor illustrations by Dan Powell and text by intrepid expedition leader Tony Soper. It includes introductory chapters on Arctic history and nature.
 
Arctic Grail
Pierre Berton
EARLY EXPLORERS · 1988 · 672 PAGES
Culled from extensive research of explorers' handwritten diaries and private journals‚ Arctic Grail is the definitive book on the age of arctic exploration and adventure. As much about the explorers who braved impossible odds as it is about each grueling expedition‚ Arctic Grail is an epic account of the Golden Age of Exploration at the top of the world.
 
Farthest North
Dr. Fridtjof Nansen
EXPLORATION · 1998
In 1893 Fridtjof Nansen set sail for the North Pole in the Fram‚ a ship specially designed to be frozen into the polar ice cap‚ withstand its crushing pressures‚ and travel north with the sea's drift. Experts said that such a ship could not be built and that the mission was tantamount to suicide. Farthest North‚ first published in 1897 to great popular appeal‚ is the stirring first-person account of the Fram and her historic voyage.
 
Arctic Dreams
Barry Lopez
NATURAL HISTORY · 1987 · 417 PAGES
One of the best books we've read on any destination, this celebrated meditation on the Arctic draws on Lopez's travels throughout the North, including Baffin Island, Siberia and Greenland. A dazzling writer and compassionate observer, Lopez weaves biology and history into his storytelling. With extended chapters on the polar bear and narwhal.
 
Map - North Circumpolar Region
Canada Map Office
2000 · MAP
A bird's-eye view of the top of the world, showing the Arctic Ocean and all the lands of the far north, including the Canadian Arctic, Alaska, Siberia, Northern Europe, and Greenland. At a scale of 1:10,000,000.

In the Land of White Death
Valerian Albanov
SURVIVAL & EXPLORATION
In 1912‚ the Saint Anna‚ a Russian exploration vessel in search of fertile hunting grounds‚ was frozen into the polar ice cap‚ trapping her crew aboard. For nearly a year and a half‚ they struggled to stay alive. As all hope of rescue faded‚ they realized their best chance of survival might be to set out on foot‚ across hundreds of miles of desolate ice‚ with their lifeboats dragged behind them on sledges‚ in hope of reaching safety. Twenty of them chose to stay aboard‚ thirteen began the trek‚ of them all‚ only two survived.

My Attainment of the Pole
Dr. Frederick A. Cook
EXPLORATION · 2001
When Frederick Albert Cook died in 1940‚ he was considered a charlatan by many‚ even though he never gave up his claims that he had been the first to lead an exploration party to the top of the world in 1908. Cook‚ a wandering physician-explorer‚ said that because of this‚ "few men in all history...have ever been made to suffer so bitterly and so inexpressibly as I because of the assertion of my achievement." Who reached the North Pole first? That is a question that has been debated for nearly a century.

The North Pole
Robert E. Peary
HISTORY & EXPLORATION · 2001 · 373 PAGES
In April of 1909‚ a year after Frederick Cook claimed to have arrived at the North Pole‚ Robert Peary (1856-1920) announced that Cook had never reached this point and that he‚ Peary‚ was the first man to reach the pole. Peary's record of the expedition tells of the arduous conditions he and his men endured‚ first breaking through the ice in a ship‚ then traveling via dog sleds.

The Ice Master
James Houston
HISTORICAL FICTION · 1997 · 372 PAGES
In James Houstons exciting adventure novel, it is the spring of 1875. Two ships set sail from Connecticut‚ traveling north together to the Baffin Island Arctic whaling grounds. One ship is captained by a hard-as-nails Yankee veteran‚ a man who knows how to deal with mutineers. The other falls to the command of a young Newfoundlander‚ an expert at sailing through ice fields in a wooden hull an "Ice Master" but inexperienced in the specialized‚ bloody trade of Arctic whaling. A riveting tale of a long-gone life. His rendering of life on Arctic-bound ships and at Arctic hunting camps is unforgiving and unforgettable. The climax is gripping‚ terrifying and masterfully drawn.

Icebound
Dean Koontz
THRILLER FICTION · 2000 · 408 PAGES
The arctic night is endless. The fear is numbing. Screams freeze in the throat. Death arrives in shades of white. Cold-blooded murder seems right at home....the chill of the grave. A secret Arctic experiment turns into a frozen nightmare when a team of scientists‚ stranded on a drifting iceberg with a massive explosive charge‚ battle the elements for survival‚ only to discover that one of them is a murderer.

North to the Night
Alvah Simon
FICTION PHILOSOPHY · 1998
In June 1994 Alvah Simon and his wife‚ Diana‚ set off in their 36-foot sailboat to explore the hauntingly beautiful world of icebergs‚ tundra‚ and fjords lying high above the Arctic Circle. Four months later‚ unexpected events would trap Simon alone on his boat‚ frozen in ice 100 miles from the nearest settlement‚ with the long polar night stretching into darkness for months to come. He emerges five months later a transformed man. Simons powerful‚ triumphant story combines the suspense of into Thin Air with a crystalline‚ lyrical prose to explore the hypnotic draw of one of earths deepest and most dangerous wildernesses.

Voyage of the Narwhal
By: Andrea Barrett
Read By: Peter Piegert
AUDIOBOOK - 4 CASSETTES
In Andrea Barrett's extraordinary novel of Arctic and personal exploration‚ maps are deceitful‚ ice all-powerful‚ and reputation more important than truth or human lives. When the Narwhal sets sail from Philadelphia in May 1855‚ its ostensible goal is to find the crew of a long-vanished expedition--or at least their relics--and be home before winter. Packed with harsh truths about the not-always-true art of discovery‚ this novel is as subtly moving as it is emotionally wrenching.

Trial by Ice
Richard Parry
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE · 2001 · 408 PAGES
In the dark years following the Civil War‚ Americas foremost Arctic explorer‚ Charles Francis Hall‚ became a figure of national pride when he embarked on a harrowing‚ landmark expedition. With financial backing from Congress and the personal support of President Grant‚ Captain Hall and his crew boarded the Polaris‚ a steam schooner carefully refitted for its rigorous journey‚ and began their quest to be the first men to reach the North Pole. Neither the ship nor its captain would ever return.

To the Pole
Richard E. Byrd
HISTORICAL JOURNAL · 1998
On May 9‚ 1926‚ Richard E. Byrd announced to the world that he and copilot Floyd Bennett were the first to fly an airplane over the North Pole. Some journalists at the time questioned whether Byrd's airplane the Josephine Ford‚ could have reached the North Pole and returned in less than sixteen hours. Documents published here for the first time provide new insights into this most controversial accomplishment of Byrd's career.