True North: Peary, Cook, and the Race to the Pole [Hardcover]

Bruce B. Henderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 2005

This book is about one of the most enduring and vitriolic feuds in the history of exploration. "What a consummate cur he is" said Robert Peary of Frederick Cook in 1911. Cook responded, "Peary has stooped to every crime from rape to murder." They started as friends and shipmates, with Cook, a doctor, accompanying Peary, a civil engineer, on a Greenland expedition in 1891. Peary's leg was shattered in an accident and without Cook's care he might not have walked again. But by the summer of 1909 the goodwill was gone. Peary said he had reached the North Pole in September 1909; Cook presented evidence that he got there in 1908. A century later, the battle still rages. Bruce Henderson makes a wonderful narrative out of the claims and counterclaims, and he introduces fascinating scientific and psychological evidence to put the appalling details of polar travel in a new context.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

On April 21, 1908, American explorer Frederick Cook reached the North Pole. A year later, fellow Arctic pioneer Robert Peary denounced him, claiming to have reached the Pole first. In this first-rate tale of adventure, bravery and perfidy, Henderson (And the Sea Will Tell) attempts to identify the winner. In 1891, Cook, recovering from the deaths of both his wife and child and seeking adventure, was hired by Peary as chief medical officer on an expedition to Greenland. The men clashed, setting the stage for later conflict (and providing excellent fodder for this exciting book). Hooked on extreme cold weather quests, Cook journeyed to the Antarctic and was also the first to summit Mount McKinley. In Henderson's telling, Peary too craved adventure, but his insatiable desire for fame was his driving force. "Remember, mother, I must have fame," Henderson quotes Peary saying in a letter to his mother. When Peary learned Cook had reached the Pole before him, Peary painted Cook as a liar and a fraud. According to Henderson, Cook reacted to the barrage by going into seclusion, and when he emerged, it was too late to save his reputation. Peary's claim to the Pole was later dismissed, but Cook's achievement was never recognized. This adventure yarn delivers as both a cautionary tale and a fitting memorial to polar exploration. Illus.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In April 1908, Frederick Cook arrived at the North Pole. In April 1909, so did Robert Peary. Or did they? Nearly a century later, the geographical jury is still out on who was first. Henderson, experienced at writing boreal sagas (e.g., Fatal North, 2001, an account of an 1871 arctic disaster), tenders no verdict himself. Rather, he synthesizes a flowing narrative from the accounts set down by Cook and Peary as well as those of ancillary figures, such as Matthew Henson. That approach lets readers form their own conclusions; one that many will make is that Peary was an obsessive fame seeker with malignant resentments. Peary was miserly, held many grudges, detested anyone poaching on "his" North Pole, and committed underhanded deeds, such as forcing Cook's records of attaining the pole to be abandoned on Greenland. (They have never been recovered.) Portraying Cook in a more sympathetic light, Henderson traces the deterioration of Cook's once-friendly relations with Peary, ably recapturing the rivalry that remains the most acrimonious in the annals of arctic adventure. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 331 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (April 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393057917
• ISBN-13: 978-0393057911
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #824,026 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bruce Henderson is the author or coauthor of more than twenty nonfiction books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller And the Sea Will Tell (with Vincent Bugliosi), which was made into a highly-rated CBS miniseries. His latest book is Hero Found: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War (Harper, 2010), the story of Navy pilot Dieter Dengler, with whom Henderson served aboard the aircraft carrier Ranger (CVA-61) in 1965-66. He is also the author of Down to the Sea: An Epic Story of Naval Diaster and Heroism in World War II (Smithsonian, 2007). A member of the Authors Guild and American Society of Journalists and Authors, Henderson has taught reporting and writing courses at several California universities, including USC School of Journalism and Stanford University. Visit his website: www.BruceHendersonBooks.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping Saga of jealousy worthy of the finest soap opera, November 21, 2005

By 

A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: True North: Peary, Cook, and the Race to the Pole (Hardcover)

More like a snow opera - this is the real-life saga of jealousy and professional hatred between Peary, the supposed discoverer of the North Pole in 1909 and his former colleague, Cook who said he discovered it in 1908.

Bruce Henderson ably lays out all the information at hand, including secondary accounts from supporters of both men. The issue seems to lie more in the personal aspects of both men who had once been colleagues but fell out very quickly in their first expedition together. This seemed to set the stage for increasing animosity culminating in Peary's attack on Cook Personally when Cook claimed to have reached the Pole.

Peary treated the Pole as a personal possession and already resented Cook, even before he made his claim. Henderson questions whether this personal dislike and Cook's propensity to hide away when under attack, has meant that Cook has failed to make the history books as the first to reach the North Pole as he should have.

Certainly this issue appears to have been a contentious one in many circles for a while, although perhaps not publically. While Henderson appears to not take sides on it overtly, I get the sense in this book that he strongly believes that Cook did get short changed.

whatever the outcome this was a ripping good read, and highly enjoyable for one who enjoys Arctic and Antarctic accounts.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Peary - Cook controversy revisited, May 13, 2005

By 

Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: True North: Peary, Cook, and the Race to the Pole (Hardcover)

It's amazing how some aspects of American history become lost through the pasage of time. When I was in grade school and high school, I was always taught that Peary discovered the North Pole, and nothing was ever said about Dr. Cook. Even in college, as a History major, I was taught nothing about that subject. The first time I learned that there was some dispute about the North Pole was when I read the book "The Big Nail", probably in the very early '70s. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement! Over the years since then, I have read other works on this subject, and each one brings its own particular bias with it. The author either favors Peary or Cook, and does his best to villify the other person. This latest book is another in Dr. Cook's corner, but it is free from the vitriol that usually populate this genre of works. He takes us through everything about both men and their respective expeditions, but comes down on the side of Cook. After reading several books, I tend to agree with him, particularly in light of Peary's seemingly amazing distances covered when any witness beside his "body servant" was with him. Also, his absolute refusal to transport Cook's instruments and vital records home on his ship, and then requesting Cook produce them to verify his claim is extremely suspicious. The "establishment", which backed Peary's work, circled the wagons against Cook and proceeded to castigate him unmercifully. No one will ever know exactly which of the two men reached the Pole first, but this well-written book makes an exceptionally good case for Dr. Cook. Read it and form your own conclusions.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Controversy That Will Never Say Die, September 14, 2005

By 

Ricky Hunter (New York City, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: True North: Peary, Cook, and the Race to the Pole (Hardcover)

True North tells the gripping story of a race to the (North) Pole that almost equals the amazing race for the South Pole of Scott and Amundsen a few years laters, both in excitement and ensuing controversy. The combatants in this contest are Cook and Peary, both claiming to have reached the Pole and, perhaps, both lying. This book makes a good case for Cook having actually achieved the set goal and an even better case for Peary never having stepped on the ever-shifting north pole. Bruce Henderson gets the tale off to a gripping start and keeps the story rolling quickly along. In Peary, the author has one of the true villains of polar exploration and the author milks it out beautifully and powerfully. It was almost hard to read at times as Peary's arrogance grew gigantic after learning that Cook was headed for the Pole. A true tragedy captured nicely in this book.