Review of How Peary reached the pole: the personal story of his assistant, by Donald B. MacMillan

Abstract

This beautifully produced reprint edition of Donald B. MacMillan’s 1934 paean to his mentor Robert E. Peary arrives just in time for the centennial of Peary’s claim to have reached the geographic North Pole on 6 April 1909. As the writers of the concise introduction point out, it also arrives in the middle of a growing international focus on how climate change is altering both the environment of the Arctic and the human responses to this change. It could even be argued that there is more sustained attention being paid to the High North at this moment than at any time since Peary’s famous feud with fellow American claimant to the North Pole, Frederick A. Cook.