Cook & Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved

Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly detailed scholarly work
Review: As a piece of scholarship, this is a definitive book. I am using it and related materials in a seminar about research methods. It is not an "easy read" and the numerous relevant illustrations are sometimes smaller than is comfortable to examine. However, it is one of the few sources where you can find reams of verifiable references to the lives of Cook and Peary. Those who believe that Cook and Peary told the truth about their polar "adventures" will probably find ways to discount the mountain of evidence that Bryce has made available. The density of detail takes patient reading, but leaves a reader free to compare interpretations with Bryce's clearly marked conclusions. The author has covered the controversy thoroughly, including taking the trouble to evaluate a copy of Cook's diary archived in Denmark. Those wishing to spend time with this book will be rewarded with credible information about one of the fascinating human stories of the last two centuries.

Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly detailed scholarly work
Review: As a piece of scholarship, this is a definitive book. I am using it and related materials in a seminar about research methods. It is not an "easy read" and the numerous relevant illustrations are sometimes smaller than is comfortable to examine. However, it is one of the few sources where you can find reams of verifiable references to the lives of Cook and Peary. Those who believe that Cook and Peary told the truth about their polar "adventures" will probably find ways to discount the mountain of evidence that Bryce has made available. The density of detail takes patient reading, but leaves a reader free to compare interpretations with Bryce's clearly marked conclusions. The author has covered the controversy thoroughly, including taking the trouble to evaluate a copy of Cook's diary archived in Denmark. Those wishing to spend time with this book will be rewarded with credible information about one of the fascinating human stories of the last two centuries.

Rating:
Summary: Mystery Solved
Review: I came to this book after reading an illustrated article in a climbing magazine showing the photographs of Bradford Washburn to disprove Cook's claim to have climbed Mt. McKinley. That issue is thoroughly covered in this book by Robert Bryce but it is very much secondary to the larger issue of the discovery of the North Pole. It is true that the book could have used some editing to lesson the author's habit of mixing unimportant facts with the important. Still, a reading of the book and a review of the bibliography and source notes, along with a recognition of the number of books already written on this topic, made me realize the heroic task the author undertook to bring this book in under 2,000 pages. The fact that there is enough information to publish a 2,000 page books explains why this book is readable, and even compelling, at almost 1,000 pages in the main text. It is not a sterile recitation of a long series of facts. We become acquainted with American society as it existed at the turn of the last century, the habits of the newspaper industry, the lecture circuit and vaudeville as prime entertainment, and there is even a long digression into oil stock fraud. We learn the history, character and motives of numerous minor players in the polar fraud controversy. I even found much of Cook's writings and personal philosophy to be compelling. The long trail to the conclusion that fraud was perpetrated by both men leaves the reader with not only with the facts, but with an explanation. I think that understanding why these men did what they did is as valuable as the feeling that the mystery has been solved.

Rating:
Summary: Another Title to Read.
Review: I have not yet read this book, however I feel the most definitive book on this subject is "A Noose of Laurels" by Wally Herbert. Mr. Herbert is an accomplished polar explorer, his knowledge of navigation is what makes his analysis of the Peary-Cook controversy so compelling. I feel no study of this subject can be made without starting with this book.

Rating:
Summary: An exhaustive look at the Cook/Peary polar controversy...
Review: In early 1909, Frederick A. Cook emerged from the arctic wastes to claim primacy in attaining the North Pole. Five days later, Cook's former mentor, Robert E. Peary, emerged to claim the same while systematically attempting to destroy the claim of his newfound rival. What followed was a controversy of bitter and lasting enmity that raged through the press, the public, and the scientific community here and abroad.

Robert Bryce has compiled a painstakingly detailed analysis of the Cook/Peary controversy that is awesome in its' depth. Separated into two parts, he first submits a complete biography of the two explorers and then follows with his resolution of fact and fiction regarding their two respective claims. Bryce not only peered closely at these two antagonists, but at the institutions within which the controversy swirled. His commentary on the roles played by the New York Times and the National Geographic Society are highly illuminating as are his depictions of the ardent supporters and detractors of either side.

Both Peary and Cook are tragic figures displayed in the throes of their obsessions and, yet, Bryce admirably presents an impartial, objective picture. His final analysis is shrewd, though compassionate. Frederick A. Cook, regardless of final resolution, remains an enigma. The depth of this man's psyche is plumbed so exquisitely by Bryce that Cook's mental machinations ultimately outweigh the question the book attempts to answer.

Who truly stepped first upon the North Pole? Surprisingly, by the time Robert M. Bryce completes his fascinating story, this is not the foremost question in the readers' mind. One can rest assured, however, that Bryce's effort is as thoroughly fulfilling a treatment of the subject as one may hope to find.

Rating:
Summary: Absorbing slice of history
Review: The book's title promises a "resolution" to the great Cook/Peary debate, and resolution is indeed to be found: but I had so much fun along the way that I was sorry when the book ended.

The author carefully and dispassionately relates and evaluates events, claims, counter-claims, and rhetoric surrounding the flamboyant career of Fred Cook, with rather less emphasis on Robert Peary. One is not really surprised to find the bulk of the text taken up with following Dr. Cook's career in light of the fact that his has been the more controversial vita.

My previous exposure to this controversy has been all on the Peary side and I found this narrative to be a real eye-opener in multiple respects. My understanding of the issues, and my sympathies for both men, are quite altered as a result of having read this book.

The partisan passion that Cook versus Peary still arouses in the hearts and minds of intelligent and otherwise rational people is astounding. This book is a real gem on multiple levels: not just for its careful assembly of facts, claims, and suppositions, but for what it has to say about media -- mass communications -- and the psychology of explorers and the people who support them.

Finally, I found this to be an amazingly graceful read for a book of its size -- so absorbing that I found myself regretfully approaching the end of the book in half the time expected. Well written, well researched, carefully presented -- a great book to have in the library!

Rating:
Summary: The most comprehensive study of the debate yet
Review: This book by Bryce is full of fascinating information. One of its most valuable features is its appendix of documents cited (the diamond mine analogy); helpful to a person wishing to study this topic.

However, the organization of book sections is variable and not helpful (the landfill analogy). Inconsistent format makes it hard to sort important facts about the attainment of the North Pole by either Cook or Peary from details of their lives. Other reviewers have spoken to some of these "character of the times and family history" issues, so I will not add any more observations on those subjects.

This book is potentially excellent but needs an especially ruthless editor! One obvious reason is to editorially tame and organize the jumbled structure of the text. An equally compelling reason for editing is that explanatory graphics are unreadably tiny in many cases and have no figure numbers or legends. This is unfortunate in a book which intends to help readers figure out (visualize) what is likely to have happened.

Images are often no larger than a big postage stamp and are incompletely described. For example, an image central to understanding navigational difficulties encountered on a moving sea ice pack is a diagram of both North poles. It shows three sets of lines on the teensy graphic, only two of which are discussed. Lines of force centered on the magnetic north pole combined with the standard grid centered on the geographic north pole are included with a third set of tenuous lines not discussed in the text.

Issues of faked photos are also important to the discussions of evidence. While reproduced photographs are apparently correctly cross-referenced, it is difficult for a reader to compare when an original and a fake are not shown on the same page. At minimum, issues of page printing press consistency arise, along with questions concerning how prints might be altered from original negatives (glass slides or film) before the Digital Age of computer imaging. In general, important landscape features are difficult to locate from text discussions of photos. In particular, the entire Mount McKinley series of photos and maps of glaciers, ridges and camps is hard for a reader to assess.

This book is a huge labor which falls somewhat short of its goal of making whopping amounts of information intelligible. I look forward to the next edition with more readable graphics and reworked text.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome story, well-written
Review: What can you say about a book that is over 1100 pages long yet I still didn't want it to end? This book is just awesome (and quite heavy too!) I am a bit of a polar exploration buff and found this to be the absolute best book out there on the rivalry between Cook and Peary. If you like adventure stories of any sort, I would highly recommend this book.