My Attainment of the Pole

The subzero temperatures were only one of the dangers explorer Frederick Cook (1865-1940) faced in his attempts to reach the North Pole. During his extraordinary and harrowing journey he fought off arctic wolves and polar bears lived through ice storms almost starved on several occasions and faced long and lonely hours of isolation. His book relates how he learned from Eskimos how to survive in the Arctic hunting musk ox to survive harpooning walruses and traveling by dog sled. After his journey he defended himself against the charges of fellow explorer Robert Peary who claimed that Cook had lied about reaching the Pole. <I>My Attainment of the Pole</I> is not only a great read for any armchair explorer it is also a controversial work that contributed to a dispute that lasted for decades.