Mid-winter: The holidays have lost their luster and spring has not yet sprung.
The familiarity of snow, sleet, slush, and biting winds breeds contempt as we once again tug into our coats, boots, and gloves. Each day now adds precious seconds of light, yet they are still far too short.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. So each February 2, we turn to a 10-pound soothsaying rodent to predict how much longer we’ll endure winter’s sting. (Really? What are we thinking?)
But since everything is relative to something else, no matter the groundhog’s prediction or how cold it is where you are, “In the Kingdom of Ice: the Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette,” will make you feel toasty warm…in comparison.
Author Hampton Sides describes how in the late 1800’s, “Arctic fever” was rampant. An explorer’s fervor gripped the nation, including an eccentric newspaper magnate, James Gordon Bennett Jr. and a 35-year-old Navy Lieutenant, George Washington De Long. In 1879, the debonair De Long set sail from San Francisco in command of the USS Jeannette in search of North Pole. Bennett had bankrolled the expedition’s voyage.
What then emerges in the story is the ingenuity, tenacity, and courage that seems a requirement of the pioneer spirit in seeking terra nova. I don’t want to give too much of the story away but withstanding adversity that could have broken even the most intrepid explorer, De Long wrote:
“We face the future with the firm hope of doing something worthy of ourselves and worthy of the flag that floats above us. We are not yet daunted.”
Fast forward about three decades and you’ll find some striking similarities (and differences) in the eloquently written “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage”―a riveting story of another expedition, in the opposite polar direction. Ernest Shackleton’s leadership skills throughout the trials of that Antarctic journey have been long heralded―yet the same characteristics could be said for the lesser known, but valiant, De Long.
Most of the characters “In the Kingdom of Ice” are not previous public figures, although a young John Muir makes a cameo appearance, well-before he emerged to conservationist world fame. And some may recognize cartographer Augustus Petermann, whose avid (though flawed) maps played a prominent role in the polar voyage.
If you are looking for lighter fare to embrace the remaining solstice season, treat yourself to “Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod.”
Gary Paulsen writes about his naive attempt to control a team of spirited sled dogs for the 1,180 mile Iditarod race with self-deprecating humor. It is the kind of mayhem that will make you laugh hard enough you’ll snort through your nose. Like the scene during a training run when Paulsen and his dog-team encounter a skunk:
“Without thinking I jerked at the skunk to pull it away from Devil. This was risky itself. Devil considered the skunk to be food, was in fact trying to swallow the skunk whole, or so it seemed, and grabbing Devil’s food amounted to suicide.
But worse. I grabbed the tail, which had the effect of swinging the rear end of the skunk around to aim the potent business at me, at my face.”
As you can imagine, it quickly becomes, “Skunk 1; Paulsen 0.” But just when you think that the skunk debacle could not get any worse―it does. Exponentially!
It is Paulsen’s insights and relationship with the dogs, and with the general human character, that provides a gentle balance to the humor of the one-after-another madcap mishaps.
You can still read “Winterdance” as this year’s human racers and their huskies prepare to mush in the 2015 Iditarod on March 7.
I hope you will enjoy reading one, or perhaps all, of these books―but especially being curled up somewhere in the comfort of a roaring fireplace, wrapped in a warm blanket, and nursing a warm beverage of your choice. After all, it’s cold outside!