The New York Times Book Review - Robert R. Harris
…this first-rate polar history and adventure narrative…is a harrowing story well told, but it is more than just that. Sides illuminates Gilded Age society, offering droll anecdotes of [James Gordon] Bennett's escapades in New York, Newport and Europe. The author also convincingly portrays what it was like to survive in northern Siberia and provides an engaging account of the voyage of the Corwin, a kind of mail and police steamer that searched for the Jeannette and carried John Muir as a supernumerary.
Publishers Weekly - Audio
10/27/2014
The latest nonfiction thriller from Sides recounts the ill-fated North Pole voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette during the late 1870s and early 1880s, which captivated newspaper readers of the era. Veteran narrator Morey displays his gift for transforming evocative prose into a vivid performance that captures the atmosphere and emotions of the harrowing journey. Morey’s renderings of the journal entries from Capt. George Washington De Long and Chief Engineer George W. Melville are especially heart-wrenching as the ship’s officers do their best to demonstrate honor in the face of peril and starvation. As delivered by Morey, the detailed descriptions of trapping and hunting polar bears and other arctic wild game become especially haunting, as do the explorers’ bonds with their sled dogs. Morey’s depiction of grit and bravery on the ice contrasts effectively with his presentation of the cavalier Gilded Age indulgence of the Jeannette’s wealthy patron, newspaper magnate James Gordon Bennett Jr. A Doubleday hardcover. (Aug.)
Publishers Weekly
★ 06/23/2014
In a masterful retelling, Sides (Hellhound on His Trail) chronicles American naval officer George Washington De Long’s harrowing 1879 expedition to the North Pole, an account as frightening as it is fascinating. Each page envelops readers in the bravery of De Long and the crew of the Jeannette, their indefatigable quest for the “Polar Grail,” and their dogged will to survive. News mogul James Gordon Bennett Jr., a colorful personality who famously sent Sir Henry Stanley to Dr. David Livingstone, was De Long’s patron, mostly because he desired another front-page stunner for his paper. De Long’s journal entries are mixed in with Sides’s description of a voyage fraught with peril—their steamboat was wedged in ice for two winters and,upon released, was crushed. Seeking rescue, the crew hauled supplies hundreds of miles across Arctic ice fields. Weather was harsh, erratic, and frigid with food and shelter scarce; many succumbed to frostbite and madness. Flawed theories of Siberian geography and settlements caused further setbacks. (Disastrously, De Long had already discovered that prevailing theories about warm currents under Polar icecaps were incorrect.) Impeccable writing, a vivid re-creation of the expedition and the Victorian era, and a taut conclusion make this an exciting gem. Agent: Sloan Harris, ICM. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
A Best Book of the Year
USA Today * Time Magazine * Washington Post * Miami Herald * Richmond Times Dispatch * Christian Science Monitor * Daily Beast * Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Enthralling… In the Kingdom of Ice is a brilliant explosion of narrative non-fiction: detailed, moving, harrowing, as gripping as any well-paced thriller but a lot more interesting because it is also true… Too often American heroism is presented at one-dimensional success against the odds… This is a much more subtle and rewarding book, an account of magnificent disaster, of courage devoted to attempting something that could not be done."
—The Times of London
“As our knowledge of the world increases, it must be difficult for audacious explorers to find terra incognita to match their passion. Surely the same frustration holds true for writers in that worthy genre, exploration literature: Haven’t all great stories been told? Never underestimate the ingenuity of a first-rate author. Hampton Sides’s In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette, which recounts the astonishing tribulations of a group of seafarers determined to be the first men to reach and reconnoiter the North Pole, is a splendid book in every way… It would be malicious to ruin the suspense about the fate of the Jeannette’s crew… The book is a marvelous nonfiction thriller.”
—The Wall Street Journal
"Compelling....Sides spins a propulsive narrative from obscure documents, journals and his own firsthand visits to the Arctic regions visited by the Jeannette and its crew. In the Kingdom of Ice makes for harrowing reading as it recounts the grim aspects of the explorers' battle for survival: illness, crippling frostbite, snow-blindness and the prospect of starvation. As grisly as the details are, you keep turning pages to find out how DeLong and his men pull themselves past each setback — even though there's always another one looming ahead."
—USA Today
“[Sides] brings vividness to In the Kingdom of Ice, and in the tragedy of the Jeannette he’s found a story that epitomizes both the heroism and the ghastly expense of life that characterized the entire Arctic enterprise…With an eye for the telling detail, he sketches the crew members as individuals…The bare facts of what happened to the Jeannette’s crew are easily Googleable, but if you don’t already know the story, In the Kingdom of Ice reads like a first-class epic thriller. De Long and his companions became explorers of not only unknown geographical territory but also extremes of suffering and despair. In his stoic endurance of disappointment and pain, De Long rivals Louis Zamperini, the hero of Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken…”
—Lev Grossman, Time Magazine
“First-rate polar history and adventure narrative...wonderfully evocative.... Sides vividly recounts the horrors [of the voyage]. In the Kingdom of Ice is a harrowing story, well told.
—The New York Times Book Review
“Unforgettable…a pulse-racing epic of endurance set against an exceedingly bizarre Arctic backdrop…[Sides’] descriptions of the physical challenges the men face and the eerie landscape that surrounds them are masterful. As De Long and his crew attempt to save themselves, the story grows in suspense and psychological complexity…More strange and fantastic turns follow, involving uncharted and uninhabited lands, and it pains me that I cannot describe them without spoiling the pleasure of those who have not yet read In the Kingdom of Ice. Sides’ book is a masterful work of history and storytelling.”
—The Los Angeles Times
“America’s own brush with epic polar tragedy, the subject of Hampton Sides’ phenomenally gripping new book, is a less well-known affair…What ensued — a struggle to survive and a nearly 1,000-mile trek across the Arctic Ocean and into the vastness of Siberia — stands as one of the most perilous journeys ever. Sides works story-telling magic as he evokes the pathos and suffering of what unfolded: De Long and his crew endured hardships that boggle the mind. But there is also beauty here… [Sides] writes superbly on the geography of Siberia and the Arctic, and the abundant bird and animal life the explorers encountered on their travels, which took them across ice, storm-tossed seas, treacherous tundra, rocky seacoasts, and volcanic islands.”
—The Boston Globe
“…harrowing and impeccably paced.”
—The New Yorker
"A dazzling page-turner.....”
—Nathaniel Philbrick, New York Times bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea, Bunker Hill and Sea of Glory
“[A] stunningly vivid account.....”
—Mark Bowden, New York Times Bestselling author of Black Hawk Down
“An astonishingly good story....”
—Candice Millard, New York Times bestselling author of The Destiny of the Republic and The River of Doubt
"Hampton Sides conjures the doomed USS Jeannette and her courageous crew with haunting power...."
—Caroline Alexander, New York Times bestselling author of The Endurance and The Bounty
"A spellbinding tale....”
—David Grann, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of Z
"Hampton Sides is one of America’s most expansive and engaging storytellers, and he proves it again with the incredible saga of the USS Jeannette...."
—Scott Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of Lawrence in Arabia
"A vivid tale of exploration set in a howling, deadly wilderness."
—T.J. Stiles, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
Library Journal
06/15/2014
In 1879, U.S. naval officer and explorer George W. De Long (1844–81) set off on a highly publicized attempt to reach the uncharted and mysterious North Pole. Sides (Hellhound on His Trail; editor, Outside magazine) presents a lengthy, gripping, and well-written account of De Long's treacherous expedition. Backed by the vast wealth of newspaper magnate James Gordon Bennett, De Long's voyage aboard the USS Jeannette ground to a grim halt when the vessel became trapped in the ice for two interminable years and later sank. After abandoning ship onto the frigid ice fields, De Long and his crew embarked on a desperate trek toward rescue in distant Siberia. Suspenseful and well grounded with biographical and historical context, Sides's work skillfully captures the passionate essence of determined explorer De Long, his indomitable compatriots, and the public's fascination with his quest. VERDICT Using De Long's correspondence with his wife as an especially effective tool to bring the explorer to life, this title will appeal to adventure fans and recreational readers interested in polar exploration, Gilded Age society, or naval history. Readers may also consider Leonard F. Guttridge's Icebound: The Jeannette Expedition's Quest for the North Pole.—Ingrid Levin, Salve Regina Univ. Lib., Newport, RI
AUGUST 2014 - AudioFile
The USS JEANETTE sailed from San Francisco in 1879 with 32 crew members under Captain George Washington De Long, intent on reaching the North Pole by way of an open polar sea—which turned out not to exist. Narrator Arthur Morey’s impeccable tone and pacing portray the confidence and hopes of discovery prior to departure, the romance of De Long and his wife, the gravitas of the expedition’s situation when the ship sinks after two years of being stuck in the ice, the race to beat winter across 1,000 miles to Siberia, and the harsh beauty of the unforgiving landscape. Hampton Sides goes down multiple tangents with colorful characters, and Morey maintains our rapt attention. This may be a long listen, but it’s so thrilling and tragic that it just whizzes by. A.B. 2015 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2014-06-05
Another crackling tale of adventure from journalist/explorer Sides (Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin, 2010, etc.), this one focusing on a frigid disaster nearly 150 years ago.When the Jeannette, commanded by a dashing officer named George De Long, disappeared in the Arctic waters of Russia on a long expeditionary voyage that began in the summer of 1879, American newspapers thought it did not necessarily mean disaster: They preferred to see it as a sign that the ship had broken through the dreaded polar ice and was now sailing freely, if without communication, in the open polar sea. No such luck: As Sides documents, the Jeannette and its crew met a gruesome end; toward the end of his narrative, we tour their icy cemetery, here the Chinese cook gazing serenely into the sky, there De Long lying barehanded with arm upraised, as if he "had raised his left arm and flung his journal behind him in the snow, away from the embers of the fire." When contemporaries took that tour and reports came out, the newspapers were full of speculation about even more gruesome possibilities, which Sides, on considering the evidence, dismisses. Given that a bad outcome is promised in the book's subtitle, readers should not find such things too surprising. The better part of the narrative is not in the sad climax but in the events leading up to it, from De Long's life and education at sea to the outfitting of the ship (complete with a storeroom full of "barrels of brandy, porter, ale, sherry, whiskey, rum, and cases of Budweiser beer"), personality clashes among members of the crew, and the long, tragic history of polar expedition.A grand and grim narrative of thrilling exploration for fans of Into Thin Air, Mountains of the Moon and the like.
