Nansen: The Explorer as Hero - Softcover

Roland Huntford

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0715628437 ISBN 13: 9780715628430

Publisher: Duckworth, 1998

Synopsis

A fascinating life... the author is a superb biographer.' Sunday Times, Books of the Year

Behind the great polar explorers of the early 20th century - Amundsen, Shackleton, Scott in the South and Peary in the North - looms the spirit of Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930). A pioneer of modern polar exploration, Nansen was among the first to embark on the last act of territorial discovery: the Arctic. He was not just proficient in fields as diverse as oceanography and skiing, but he was also one of the founders of neurology. A restless, unquiet Faustian spirit, Nansen was a Renaissance Man as well as an artist and historian, a diplomat who had dealings with Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin, and he played a part in the Versailles Peace Conference where he helped the Americans in their efforts to contain the Bolsheviks.

Working for the League of Nations as both High Commissioner for Refugees and High Commissioner for the Repatriation of Prisoners of War, he became one of the first modern media-conscious international civil servants. Nansen: Explorer as Hero is the most comprehensive biography of this influential figure to date in which Roland Huntford perfectly captures Nansen.

PRAISE FOR NANSEN

'A wonderful biography of the greatest polar explorer by the best biographer of polar explorers... hugely satisfying.' Paul Theroux, Guardian

'A book which takes us outward through the life of another and frmo there inward into our own. What more can you ask of a biography?' Sara Wheeler, Daily Telegraph

'An exemplary biography: massively researched, lucidly written, and perfectyl capturing the blend of arrogance and innocence of its inspiring but infuriating hero.' Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph

'A dozen years in the making, this massively researched biography is a superb achievement... Nansen here finds a peerless biographer.' Frank McLynn, Evening Standard

About this title

About the Author

Roland Huntford is the world's foremost authority on the polar expeditions and their protagonists. He is the author of the award-winning Two Planks and a Passion: The Dramatic History of Skiing; Race for the South Pole: The Expedition Diaries of Scott and Amundsen and biographies of Shackleton and Nansen. He is a Senior Member of Wolfson College, Cambridge and was the Scandinavian correspondent on The Observer for many years.

Edition details

• Publisher: Duckworth
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0715628437
• ISBN 13: 9780715628430
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 624