In 1906, from the ice fields northwest of Greenland, Commander Robert E. Peary spotted an unknown land in the distance. He called it "Crocker Land". Scientists and explorers agreed that Peary had found a new continent. Several years later, two of his disciples, George Borup and Donald MacMillan-with the sponsorship of the American Museum of Natural History-assembled a team to investigate. They pitched their two-year mission as a scientific tour de force to fill in the last blank space on the globe. But the Crocker Land Expedition became a five-year ordeal that endured a fatal boating accident, a drunken captain, a shipwreck, marooned rescue parties, disease, dissension and a crewman-turned-murderer. Based on a trove of unpublished letters, diaries and field notes, A Wretched and Precarious Situation is a harrowing adventure.

About the Author
David Welky is the author of The Thousand-Year Flood: The Ohio-Mississippi Disaster of 1937, The Moguls and the Dictators: Hollywood and the Coming of World War II, and other books. He is a professor of history at the University of Central Arkansas.

Reviews
"Unravels the strange story of one of the world's greatest discoveries that never was." -- National Geographic
"Polar historians will be grateful to have the Crocker Land expedition properly documented." -- . - The New York Times Book Review
"The true story of the Crocker Land Expedition to find a new continent northwest of Greenland in the early 20th century." -- What We're Reading - The Independent



Book Information
ISBN 9780393354829
Author David Welky
Format Paperback
Page Count 528
Imprint WW Norton & Co
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 395g
Dimensions(mm) 211mm * 140mm * 33mm