The Ice Balloon

Starred review from February 13, 2012
A reporter for The New Yorker since 1980, Wilkinson (The Protest Singer) recounts Swede S. A. Andrée's failed 1897 bid for the North Pole via hydrogen balloon (dubbed Ãrnen, or The Eagle) in this epic tale of adventure. Toward the end of the 19th century, global discovery was still a novelty, and though Andrée was one of many "thrill seekersâ¦romantics⦠visionary dreamers," his mode of transport set him apart. Relying on Andrée's journalâdiscovered by a Norwegian sloop in 1930 along with Andrée's remains on a remote Arctic islandâand extensive research, Wilkinson's anecdotal narrative is captivating, and he deftly conjures images of forbidding ice-white landscapes. A portrait not only of a man, but of an age, the book is packed with technological, geographic, cultural, and scientific tidbits. Andrée comes across as forward-thinking and cavalier, as well as disciplined and rational. However, Andrée's motives and reputation were, and still are, hotly debatedâwas he, as Urban Wrakberg sought to disprove, an "isolated dreamer out of touch with the real polar science and technology of his period," or a pioneer and catalyst for more than a century of discovery? Regardless, Wilkinson's book is a thrilling account of a remarkable man and, in the words of Alexis Machuronâa witness to Andrée and Ãrnen's departureâhis daring exploration of "the sea, the ice-field and the Unknown!" Photos and maps.

December 15, 2011
A tidy, methodical look into some of the perilous expeditions to the Arctic, especially S.A. Andrée's ill-fated hydrogen-balloon expedition of 1897. New Yorker writer Wilkinson (The Protest Singer, 2009, etc.) fixes on the explorers who set out with megalomaniacal intent in search of a Northwest Passage through the pitiless frigid northern regions, such as Henry Hudson, Sir John Franklin, Fridtjof Nansen and Adolphus Greely. When Swedish patent officer and engineer Andrée first proposed his plan to reach the North Pole by hydrogen balloon, the legendary American explorer Greely denounced the proposal as not viable. In fact, Andrée believed the Arctic ideal for aircraft travel, rather than sledge, which only ran into icy impediments. He proposed taking only two other men up in the balloon, steered by guide ropes and sails and bearing many innovations, and underwritten by Alfred Nobel and the king. Liftoff from Dane's Island had to be postponed a year because of unfavorable winds, but the balloon finally took off July 11, 1897, intending to reach the North Pole in three days. Once it vanished from sight, however, it took 33 years to learn more or less what happened to the men; the discovery in 1930 of their remains and diaries reveals that they did not reach the pole, but wrecked on land and died of exhaustion and cold as the winter set in. Wilkinson, ever elegant and thorough, fleshes out his account by delineating the previous expeditions of Greely and Nansen in order to get at the motivations in the minds of this "parade of fanatics heading for the deep places." Beautifully focused and composed.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 1, 2011

In 1897, Swedish explorer S.A. Andree tried to discover the North Pole by flying there in a hydrogen balloon. The flight failed after three days, after which Andree and his two colleagues attempted a sledge ride back to civilization that lasted three months and ended in death on a frozen isle. Journalist/author Wilkinson (e.g., The Protest Singer) relies on the three aeronauts' diaries and photographs, discovered decades later. With books on the Arctic now showing up regularly, this should attract interest.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2012
A writer known for discerning portraiture (The Happiest Man in the World, 2007), Wilkinson here probes the personality of Swedish explorer Salomon Andr'e, who, along with two companions, disappeared in an 1897 attempt to discover the North Pole by balloon. Their remains were found three decades later on an island near Spitzbergen, and from their accompanying diaries, letters, and photographs, Wilkinson narrates their flight and ensuing retreat toward civilization. That story of intrepid struggle caps Wilkinson's main interest in placing Andr'e within the tradition of exploration of the Arctic and adventurers' emotional responses to the icescapes. Unlike his contemporary, Fridtjof Nansen, an expressive explorer who in his writings exulted in the sublime scenery, Andr'e, an engineer, was a reticent man of facts and figures, one who comes to life a little resentfully, as if interrupted. Contemplating Andr'e's possible motivationsdesire for fame and scientific achievement, intention to prove the balloon was a practical aircraftWilkinson concludes that the cautious Andr'e became as zealous and wild-eyed as any fanatic who went off toward the unfound places. Wilkinson proves to be an evocative stylist and a solid historian in this fine addition to the annals of polar exploration.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)