The Man Who Ate His Boots

Exotic and thrilling. . . . One of those books that can keep a reader inside for an entire weekend. <i>Los Angeles Times</i> Thoughtful, compassionate and meticulously researched . . . offers readers a vivid, compelling, ultimately heartbreaking history of Arctic exploration. <i>The Oregonian</i> A fascinating, at times thrilling, narrative. <i>The Seattle Times</i> Brandt is a superb and profound writer who leads us through a tale of such hardship you feel as if you ve been aboard ship with them. It s no small feat to use a bit of history to illuminate the future, but Brandt pulls it off. This is narrative history at its absolute gripping best. Sebastian Junger, author of <i>The Perfect Storm</i> and <i>War</i> [Brandt is a] powerful storyteller, vividly re-creating the most dramatic episodes of the nineteenth century. <i>Washington Post</i> A robust new history. . . . Brandt tells his story well. . . . [He] achieves a modern synthesis between the hagiography of the old days and the more recent historical revisionism. <i>The New York Times</i> <i>Book Review</i> Brandt is a well-tempered storyteller, both thoroughgoing and agile, who knows what to do with a tale of high color and noble folly. <i>San Francisco Chronicle</i> A rich and satisfying read, and a classic history of Arctic exploration. Laurence Bergreen, author of <i>Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu</i> Lively, mischievous, and dryly ironic . . . deeply satisfying fare. <i>Arctic Book Review</i> A well-researched account. . . . Brandt is at his best when he weaves in back stories of the politics and petty feuds that shaped much of the public perception. <i>Willamette Week</i> A splendid, gripping account of an astounding, unbelievable quest. . . . What Brandt brings to this mesmerizing tale is what only fine writing can deliver: fully realized sense impressions that make history come memorably alive, and an informed, sensitive analysis of historical events that puts them in larger context. <i>The Independent</i> (Hamptons) Anthony Brandt s account of the fatal quest for the Northwest Passage is fascinating, horrifying and inspiring. It is not just a great tale of heroic exploration, wonderfully told, but an epic voyage of discovery into the recesses of the human spirit. Piers Brendon, author of <i>The Decline and Fall of the British Empire</i> Brandt pens a colorful narrative full of gothic horrors, quiet daring, and petty personality clashes, and probes the social meaning of these odysseys. . . . The result is a gripping and sometimes appalling tale of heroism and hubris. <i>Publishers Weekly</i></p>