Author and historian Hampton Sides’ In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette is a harrowing tale of polar exploration in the Gilded Age.  Reading like an epic adventure story, In the Kingdom of Ice is a fantastic book about the hurried American attempt to sail to the North Pole via the Bering Strait in 1879.  The struggle for survival of the crew of the USS Jeannette after it became stuck in ice during the daunting voyage to the top of the world was a fight-for-your-life adventure.  As the book reveals, mankind’s desire to conquer the uncharted has produced some astoundingly ambitious and tenacious individuals.  Thoroughly researched and well-paced, In the Kingdom of Ice is a gruelling trial populated by nothing less than extraordinary characters.

Woodlawn recommends this fascinating story of braving the elements—featuring every horror the Arctic had to offer—to anyone who has an interest in exploration and expeditions to the Arctic regions in the late 19th century.