Across the Top of the World

Men have attacked it with sleds and dirigibles, snowmobiles and submarines. Incredibly, no one stood upon the North Pole until 1968. In 1991, David Fisher went there, on a posh, semi-comic cruise on the Soviet icebreaker Sovetskiy Soyuz. Now, Fisher recounts not only his own colorful adventures, but an incredible history of frequently madcap, often horrific explorations, bringing to life a remarkable band of heroes, liars, visionaries, braggarts and fools, as well as such legendary explorers as Frederick Cook and Admiral Peary, who raced to the pole in 1908 and spent the rest of their lives arguing about who won.