Book Available Online
"The Franz Josef Land Archipelago:
E.B. Baldwin's Journal of the Wellman Polar Expedition, 1898-1899"
Edited By: P.J. Capelotti
ISBN: 0-7864-1776-5
For further information and to order the book, please go to:
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Publishers
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Jefferson, NC 28640
Phone: 800-253-2187 or 336-246-4460
Fax: 336-246-4033
OVERVIEW
Franz Josef Land is a forbidding place, isolated by geography and
history. Lying above the Arctic Circle in the northernmost province of
Russia, this remote series of islands was only discovered by Westerners
in 1873, and remains little known today. A few intrepid explorers
ventured there in the late 19th century as a stepping-stone in attempts
to reach the North Pole. Chicago journalist Walter Wellman led the first
American expedition to the archipelago as part of a polar expedition in
1898-1899. His second-in-command, Evelyn Briggs Baldwin, kept a journal
documenting their trip. This previously unpublished journal reveals much
about one of the last great periods of exploration-including the
violence, chicanery, and racism that characterized much of American
exploration and expansion. Baldwin's journal, reproduced here, paints a
more realistic picture of the expedition than did Wellman's communiqués
sent home for mass consumption. Correspondence between Baldwin and
Wellman is included, and expedition notes list the supplies carried,
descriptions of geographic features observed in the course of the trip,
and the doctor's notes on treatments, remedies, and supplies. Editor
P.J. Capelotti provides an extended introduction, and the text is
illustrated with maps, depictions of dramatic events occurring on the
trip, and several photographs.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Archeologist P.J. Capelotti teaches anthropology and American Studies at
Penn State University. He is also the editor of "The Svalbard
Archipelago: American Military and Political Geographies of Spitsbergen
and Other Norwegian Polar Territories, 1941-1950." He lives in
Pennsylvania.
For further information and to order the book, please go to:
http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/action.lasso?-db=Promodat.fp3&-lay=Viewing%
20Layout&-format=record%5fdetail.htm&-recid=34567&-find
or contact:
McFarland & Company, Inc.
Publishers
Box 611
Jefferson, NC 28640
Phone: 800-253-2187 or 336-246-4460
Fax: 336-246-4033