THE NOOSE OF LAURELS: Robert E. Peary and the Race to the North Pole

by Wally Herbert ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1989

Polar expert Herbert (A World of Men; Across the Top of the World) pounds the last nail into the cracked coffin of explorer Robert E. Peary in this mesmerizing tale of ambition and deceit, demolishing once and for all Peary's claim as the discoverer of the North Pole. It began for Herbert in 1985, when he received permission from the National Geographic Society to be the first independent reseacher in nearly a century to examine Peary's original diary and astronomical observations. What Herbert found was a web of blank pages, inserted loose-leaf sheets, suspiciously tidy entries (Herbert speculates that Peary wrote the diary ""in one sitting""), and indications of ""astonishingly slack navigation,"" leading to the ""tragic"" conclusion that the famed explorer had marched in the wrong direction, missed the Pole, and subsequently faked his claim. The reason for the hoax? Herbert pins it on Peary's ""self-destructive craving for fame."" Herbert patiently reconstructs Peary's life--childhood with an overprotective mother, engineering work in Nicaragua, travels in Greenland, the two brutal polar attempts--evolving a convincing portrait of a complicated, self-involved man obsessed with success to the point of monomania. Oddly, Peary's cavalier disregard for truth also characterized Frederick Cook, his chief rival, whose claims for polar priority Herbert also scrutinizes and squarely rejects. A sizzling combination of biographical research and scientific detection. This will stand--at least until new revelations appear--as the death rattle for Peary's reputation, and a standout addition to the library of polar exploration.

Pub Date: June 1, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1989

Categories: NONFICTION