What to Read Next: February 21, 2025
Issue #367, featuring a new polar history and 100-year-old classics
Happy Friday readers,
After another arctic chill hit most of the U.S. this week, some warmer temps are on the horizon. But that hasn’t kept me from reading more polar exploration books. As noted a couple of weeks ago, that niche genre is a favorite of mine. Thankfully, author Buddy Levy keeps writing great books about icy explorations.
Here’s what is on tap this week:
A review of Buddy Levy’s new polar history
What Reagan’s ‘80s can say about today’s government cuts
Celebrating books published 100 years ago
5 Things: Links and Opinions
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Realm of Ice and Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, and History's Greatest Arctic Rescue by Buddy Levy
Buddy Levy’s newest book is not focused on a single expedition, as most polar narratives are, but rather on three semi-connected journeys which serve to chronicle the polar age of flight. For a couple of decades in the early 20th century, explorers took to the sky in their bids to conquer the North Pole — the ice at the top of the world was just too unforgiving and too unpredictable for the ships of the era.
With a combination of airplanes and dirigibles, Walter Wellman, Roald Amundsen, and Umberto Nobile sought arctic glory via various routes and each came away with a rather different experience. Most famously, Amundsen reached the pole (most likely the first to do so) and then perished on a mission to rescue Nobile a couple of years later.
I’ve read a lot of polar stories, but Realm of Ice and Sky was unique. Amundsen, in particular, is an eminently compelling character and any story featuring his Nordic stoicism is worth reading.
A book like this could easily have felt somewhat disconnected, but Levy did a fantastic job weaving the stories together and making it a cohesive narrative. I was always eager to pick it back up and flew through the pages in a matter of days. Levy remains a foremost chronciler of arctic expedition stories and I can’t wait to see whatever it is he decides to write next. If you’re at all into historical adventure tales, his books are not to be missed.