Franz Josef Land Archipelago

the long version

"Franz Josef Land is a forbidding place, isolated by geography and history. Lying above the Arctic Circle in the northernmost province of Russia, this remote archipelago was discovered by Westerners in 1873. Chicago journalist Walter Wellman led the first American party there as part of a North Pole expedition in 1898-1899. His second-in-command, Evelyn Briggs Baldwin, kept a journal of the trip. Previsouly unpublished, it reveals much about one of the last great periods of exploration - including the violence, chicanery, and racism that characterized many of the American efforts." "Baldwin's journal paints a more realistic picture of the expedition than did Wellman's communiques sent home for mass consumption. Correspondence between Baldwin and Wellman is included, and expedition notes list supplies, geographic features observed, and doctor's notes. Editor P. J. Capelotti provides an extended introduction, and the text is illustrated with maps, depictions of dramatic events on the trip, and several photographs."--BOOK JACKET.