New Book Available
How Peary Reached the Pole: The Personal Story of His Assistant
By Donald B. MacMillan with a new Introduction by Susan A. Kaplan,
Genevieve M. LeMoine, and Anne Witty
Published by McGill-Queens University Press
For further information and to order, please go to:
http://mqup.mcgill.ca/book.php?bookid=2262
In 1934, Donald B. MacMillan, an accomplished explorer, wrote about his
early career as a member of Robert E. Peary's 1908-09 North Pole
Expedition. Now available for the first time since its original
publication, this expanded edition of "How Peary Reached the Pole"
features a biography of MacMillan and eleven images from his hand-tinted
lantern slide collection.
MacMillan used the journal he kept during the expedition to provide an
intimate view of day-to-day activities and relationships with other
members of the party, detailing how he learned to drive dog teams, camp
in sub-zero temperatures, and travel safely across the ice-covered Polar
Sea. MacMillan's experiences and deep admiration for Peary's methods,
leadership, and many accomplishments make for fascinating reading.
"How Peary Reached the Pole" allows us to see arctic landscapes and
Inuit culture as MacMillan experienced them, providing a perspective
from which to consider the northern environmental and cultural issues
that continue to concern individuals and nations today, one hundred
years after Peary's historic expedition.
Susan A. Kaplan, Genevieve M. LeMoine, and Anne Witty work at the
Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies Center, at Bowdoin
College. This publication is one part of a program celebrating the
hundredth anniversary of Robert E. Peary's 1908-09 North Pole
Expedition.
Information about the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies
Center's Peary Centennial programs, including instructions on how to
access the ongoing 1908-09 historic blog can be found on the Museum's
website at: http://www.bowdoin.edu/arctic-museum/.
Books may be ordered from the McGill-Queens University Press website at:
http://mqup.mcgill.ca/book.php?bookid=2262.