Are you a HIstory Buff? Love a good novel with amazing characters? Need to follow a tale to get you out of your own head for a few days?
Have you ever heard of the USS Jeanette? I had not and now I am kind of wondering why not.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read Historical Fiction (it's not fiction at all, but it reads that way), General Fiction readers, those fascinated by the how and why of things, well, basically anyone over the age of 13 (due to topics such as death)
Here is my review of the book (hint this got 5 stars from me)
In the late 19th Century there was a thirst Worldwide to explore the Arctic. It's waters, lands and ice were all a mystery and all had their ideas about what lie above the Arctic Circle, but none had come home from a traverse beyond.
This is a chronicle of one such voyage with many differences. The voyage of the USS Jeanette, Commanded by George Washington Delong with a crew of 33 and funded by James Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald in 1879-1882. As the title suggests, it was both grand and terrible.
But,in reading this book, the reader sees it was so many other things as well. Your emotions are all over the place!
I was unfamiliar with the Jeannette's voyage before I picked up this book and now I doubt I will ever forget it.
What Delong and his men faced and endured, what they discovered and where they went? These men traveled using maps that were wildly inaccurate, scientific instruments that were no doubt state of the art in 1870, but by today's standards were "fly by night", and given information about the ice conditions that we would consider absolute stupidity today.
The entire journey and the men who were a part of it all have earned their place in History and in future stories and remembrances. They paved a way, discovered amazing things in the name of Science, Nature, and Survival. Some survived, some perished as martyrs to exploration. All earned respect.
Kristen
