Like Barrow's Boys before it, the most impressive thing about Ninety Degrees North, Fergus Fleming's chronicle of the explorers of the Arctic and the quest for the North Pole, is that the author manages to have his cake and eat it. He doesn't shy away from the horrors and rigours of exploration in some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world (as early as page 37, we get this about an epidemic of scurvy: "Morton was so appallingly afflicted that the flesh dropped from his ankle, exposing the bones and tendons. Kane dared not amputate lest tetanus take hold.") and yet at the same time he also manages to capture the aspiration and the majesty of it all.

Fleming is an excellent writer who can include plenty of detail and anecdote in his prose without disturbing the flow. So it is appropriate that it is he himself who best summarizes the diversity of his approach to the book in his concluding pages:

"The quest for the North Pole… It had provoked acts of heroism and folly, had led its protagonists through scenes of beauty and vistas of despair, had tantalized scientists and inflamed the imaginations of artists and adventurers alike. Governments and individuals had been drawn into its dream-like depths, spurred in equal measure by sound theories and myths of wildest fancy." (pg. 415)

Fleming packs all this variety into his single-volume heavyweight history. Initially, I felt the book suffered from the lack of a central theme: Barrow's Boys seemed to draw spice from the almost-universally foolhardy bravery of the explorers sent out by Sir John Barrow, something lacking in the more internationalist Ninety Degrees North, with its mix of foolhardy expeditions and more sober ones. But whilst this means the book doesn't tear along like its predecessor, it retains all the dogged research and skilful weaving of narrative, anecdote and analysis. It is a fascinating period and place of history, delivered impeccably by one of the finest narrative historians. ( )

This is a wonderfully readable and colourful account of the heroic era of Arctic exploration from the mid nineteenth century until the early years of the twentieth century. It peters out after the bitter Frederick Cook v Robert Peary argument about which of them, if either, had reached the North Pole first in either 1908 or 1909 respectively. It seems clear that Cook was a fraud. Peary may well have been mistaken in his belief that he had reached it, though he almost certainly came extremely close, and the position is much more ambiguous than that of Cook. Peary was not a pleasant character, as witnessed by some of his activities towards the Eskimo community (stealing their only source of metal) and individual members of it (luring some with false promises then selling them to the Smithsonian Institution as curiosities); though, to be fair, he also inspired great devotion in many of them as well. Peary's extreme self-belief and utter conviction that he alone had the right almost physically to possess the entire Polar region, may well have distorted his judgement - the almost unbelievable speed at which he arrived there, and even more so, that at which he left makes it very difficult to believe he actually achieved 90 degrees north exactly. Before this, there was a rich cast of intrepid explorers like Fridtjof Nansen, scientists with very few leadership qualifications such as Elisha Kent Kane, amateur dreamers like the Verne-esque balloonist Salomon Andree and unscrupulous backers of expeditions such as James Gordon Bennett. There are gripping atmospheric accounts of struggling through snowdrifts and icefields, through months of darkness and battles with depression caused by the lack of light and activity during the winter and the extreme sameness of the landscape, debilitating attacks of scurvy, and frostbite leading to the loss of toes. It's marvellous stuff and a really great read. 5/5 ( )

A truly enthralling account of the whole era of Arctic exploration and human obsession with finding the North Pole. This book details not only the courage, hardships, endurance, vanity and stupidity of various key figures but also the political background: vacillating public interest, funding difficulties, nationalistic ambition - it's all there! ( )