Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)More like a snow opera - this is the real-life saga of jealousy and professional hatred between Peary, the supposed discoverer of the North Pole in 1909 and his former colleague, Cook who said he discovered it in 1908.
Bruce Henderson ably lays out all the information at hand, including secondary accounts from supporters of both men. The issue seems to lie more in the personal aspects of both men who had once been colleagues but fell out very quickly in their first expedition together. This seemed to set the stage for increasing animosity culminating in Peary's attack on Cook Personally when Cook claimed to have reached the Pole.
Peary treated the Pole as a personal possession and already resented Cook, even before he made his claim. Henderson questions whether this personal dislike and Cook's propensity to hide away when under attack, has meant that Cook has failed to make the history books as the first to reach the North Pole as he should have.
Certainly this issue appears to have been a contentious one in many circles for a while, although perhaps not publically. While Henderson appears to not take sides on it overtly, I get the sense in this book that he strongly believes that Cook did get short changed.
whatever the outcome this was a ripping good read, and highly enjoyable for one who enjoys Arctic and Antarctic accounts.
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