Soviets in the Arctic: An Historical, Economic and Political Study of the Soviet Advance into the Arctic

Taracouzio, T. A. . New York: Macmillan Co., 1938.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

Chapter III (p. 73ff) spells out quite explicitly the purpose of this book: The Russian government must be completely Sovietized…. Politically, within the territory geographically located within the boundaries of the U.S.S.R., no tolerance can be shown toward any other form of government than that which was established by Lenin in 1917. The portion of the Arctic to be studied here is part of the Soviet Union.

On Floating Ice: Two Years on Antarctic Ice-Shelf South of 75°S.

MacDowall, Joseph. Edinburgh: Pentland Press, 1999.
  • 1955-59 Royal Society IGY Antarctic Expedition.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

For one year MacDowall was the leader of this expedition and base at Halley Bay in the Weddell Sea, one of Britain’s contributions to IGY. It is quite a prosaic account, with little drama, but notable for its citations to the base newspaper, the Halley Comet.

Under Scott’s Command: Lashly’s Antarctic Diaries

Lashly, William. Ed. by A. R. Ellis…, with an Introduction by Sir Vivian Fuchs. New York: Taplinger, 1969.
  • Heroic Age 1901-1921.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Lashly was a leading stoker on the Discovery and the Terra Nova, and was part of the South Pole expedition, making all but the final cut. He comes across well in a jingoistic book, e.g. Fuchs introduction: “This book is a further contribution to our knowledge of the happy atmosphere which pervaded two polar expeditions. It was the combination of great leadership and loyal support which added an epic to our history” (p. 10). The book certainly shows loyal support, esp. from Lashly, but scarcely hides the inadequacy of Scott’s leadership.

The Floating Republic

Manwaring, George Ernest. . By George Manwaring and Bonamy Dobrée. New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1966.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

p. 15, on belowdecks life for British seamen: There was no leisure, no leave, no books, to qualify their miserable existence:* there was nothing to make a man feel himself a human being. [Footnote*: In 1812 a shocked Admiralty provided libraries, and the seaman’s life was rendered gayer by the availability of such books as the Old Chaplain’s Farewell Letter, The Whole Duty of Man, andAdvice after Sickness. (Hutchinson, 43.)

A Voyage Around the World 1826-1829.

Litke, Frederic. Edited by Richard A. Pierce. (Kingston, ONT: Limestone Press, 1987).
  • 1826-29 Russian Exploring Expedition (aboard Veniamin).
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

Trip on Seniavin, a Russian ship, to survey coasts of Kamchatka, the Okhotsk Sea, and the Shanter Islands. Traveled from Kronstadt to Portsmouth, Rio, Cape Horn, Valparaiso, Sitka, & Kamchatka. Stopped in Sitka to observe the Russian colonies there under the Russian-American Company in New Archangel. Baron Wrangell was governor and the fort itself had been rebuilt after being destroyed by the Americans:

A Sequel to the North-West Passage, and the Plans for the Search for Sir John Franklin. A Review.

Brown, John. Second edition.flattered London: E. Stanford, 1860.
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

This second edition of Brown updates the summary beyond the significant date of 1859 and McClintock’s report. A final section is an unpaginated “Opinions of the Press,” ending with an encomium to Brown from Alexander von Humboldt (August 16, 1858), on the last printed [but unpaginated] page of the book. An excerpt is included here as a remarkable example of a reading experience from an unusual source:

Marginalia.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Bollingen Edition. Five? Volumes. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 19-- .
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

Volume I:

The Daily Journal of an Antarctic Explorer 1956-1958.

Warren, Guyon. Edited by Karen Warren. Nelson, NZ: Copy Press Books, 2014.
  • 1955-58 TAE: Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Fuchs and Hillary).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Warren was a geologist on the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (TAE) led by Vivian Fuchs (UK) and Sir Edmund Hillary (NZ). When not on surveying journeys to the Polar Plateau and the Dry Valleys, he was mainly at the Scott Base near McMurdo and he mentions the library at McMurdo a couple of times. His notes about reading occur mainly during the winter period, as outlined here:

Roald Amundsen.

Bomann-Larsen, Tor. Foreword by Pen Hadow. Translated by Ingrid Christophersen. Stroud, Glocs., UK: Sutton Publishing, 2006.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
 Preview 

Bomann attempts to do to Amundsen what Huntford did to Scott. Most of the time he refers to Amundsen as “the polar explorer” as if he thought himself the only one. Apart from a reference to Amundsen’s childhood reading of and fascination with Sir John Franklin, I found nothing about Amundsen’s reading.

Captain Scott’s Desert Island Discs: A Favour of What Were the Happening Sounds in Antarctica 100 Years Ago.

Rees, Jasper. (Wednesday, 11 April 2012) [Online source unknown.].
  • 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Centenaries are sizeable business in 2012. It just so happens that the Olympics are coming to the United Kingdom for the third time in a year which finds us thinking very hard about if being British still means the same thing as it did 100 years when two momentous calamities singed themselves into the national psyche: the Titanic sank, and Captain Scott and his four companions never made it back from the South Pole.

Longitude and Empire: How Captain Cook’s Voyages Changed the World.

Richardson, Brian W. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 2005.
  • 1768–79 British Naval Expeditions of Captain James Cook.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

In a daring, almost reckless shift, Richardson moves the discussion of what Cook may have read to who may have read Cook’s voyages and how the reading of Cook’s voyages changed the Western view of the world. Cites library statistics from late 18th-century Bristol to show Hawkesworth the most circulated book, with its description of Cook’s first voyage, as the most circulated book in the decade of 1773-1784. By its very organization, he sees the library as a statement about the world and the places in it. As Captain Cook had authority over his ships just as his printed voyages took on the authority of the printed word. He thus sees Cook as an important point of origin for empire as a collection of places as well as a sovereign authority over them (p. 200).

The Gateways to the Pole,

[Maury, J. B.]. Putnam’s Magazine N.s. IV No. 23 (Nov. 1869) 521-537; “The Dumb Guides to the Pole” N.s. IV No. 24 (Dec. 1869) 727-40.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

An extended and approving study of Silas Bent’s theories of the open polar sea and thermal currents, saying that previous explorers have ignored the natural paths of warm currents & that Bent’s purpose is the humane one of saving lives in fruitless attempts on the North Pole.