Its belly wounded, the Italia hangs in the air, brooding over a group of explorers who stand on the frozen, barren Arctic snow. The sun flames between the sky and the ice, perhaps a promise, perhaps an omen. The cover art compelled me to buy the book.

The title, Realm of Ice and Sky, invited me to enter a world ruled by those two endless and formidable expanses and to meet the men who risked their lives, their money, and their reputations in search of fame and glory and discovery as they vied for the North Pole and a place in history.

The subtitle, Triumph, Tragedy, and History’s Greatest Arctic Rescue, promised me a shipwreck story of sorts, and I love nonfiction books about shipwrecks.

Each night I would sit on my cushy couch with a patchwork quilt over my legs and enter the realm of ice and sky. I followed the adventures of Walter Wellman, Roald Amundsen, and Umberto Nobile, who were all driven by an inner desire to venture into a dangerous and largely unknown world, reaching for a sense of immortality.

While Levy’s book isn’t a biography, he does delve into the lives of Wellman, Amundsen, and Nobile just enough to give readers a glimpse of who those men were and what inspired them to leave the comforts of civilization and venture into the hostile and largely unexplored regions of the Arctic. Wellman, Amundsen, and Nobile were all talented, knowledgeable explorers, who, when it arrived, faced adversity and danger with calmness and bravery.

But Levy refrains from portraying these men simply as heroic figures because, although they could be heroic, they also had their faults. In the early 1900s, Polar explorers were a small, tightly-knit group who looked out for one another. However, they could also be aroused by petty jealousies that sometimes became public disputes, which their fans eagerly followed in the newspapers and radio broadcasts of the day.

The beauty of Levy’s book goes far beyond its cover. Levy’s talent for clear descriptive writing lets readers easily imagine the enormity of the airships, marvel at their mechanical intricacies, and hold their breath as the crews battle against the unpredictable Arctic weather of ice, snow, rain, hail, and gale-force winds. Readers can picture the magnificent views from the top of the world: the midnight sun, the blindingly-white snow, and the changing hues of the ice floes and water.

Levy, an award-winning author, deftly weaves together the stories of explorers who conquered the earth’s last frontier, the rise of airships, and the dawn of the golden age of radio. Starting with Wellman, explorers could send messages via radio transmissions to the outside world, giving almost real-time updates of their progress, which then appeared in newspapers and radio broadcasts, feeding a public who hungered for the thrilling news of the Arctic explorations. It’s been almost a hundred years since the airship Italia flew over the North Pole, but stories of daring explorers still fascinate us, especially when told in the capable hands of an author like Buddy Levy. [For more about Levy and his work, click here.]

In addition to a well-written and well-researched story, readers will appreciate the book’s extras. Maps at the beginning of the book track the different flights and give readers a better understanding of the geography of the North Pole and Arctic Circle. The table of contents and index make it easy to find information. At the end of the book, there is a glossary of airship and aviation terms, a list of each expedition and the crew members who participated, and a bibliography. Sixteen pages of wonderful photographs are also included.

I liked this book so much that I plan to read two other books by Levy: Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk and River of Darkness: Francisco Orellana and the Deadly First Voyage Through the Amazon.

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A short story suggestion:

“Love and Hydrogen” by Jim Shepard

Shepard’s historical short story takes place in May 1937 aboard the Hindenburg while on its doomed flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Lakehurst, New Jersey. Among the ninety-seven people aboard the airship are two male crew members who are in love with each other. It’s a powerful story, written with a lyrical heaviness that foreshadows both the impending explosion of the Hindenburg, and the looming disaster of World War II.

Some extra thoughts:

Until I saw this book, I had no idea that dirigibles had been used in Arctic explorations. I knew only two things about these airships. One, that the Hindenburg had exploded in Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937, killing thirty-six people. In my high school history class, we watched the newsreel footage of the explosion and fire, while we heard the radio reporter’s poignant utterance, “Oh, the humanity” as the burning airship crashed on the ground. My second experience with airships was watching the Goodyear Blimp fly above arenas in order to provide overhead coverage of sporting events.

After reading Realm of Ice and Sky, I did a little research on dirigibles. Below is a YouTube video about the USS Akron disaster, which had seventy-three fatalities compared to the Hindenburg‘s thirty-six. It’s about ten minutes long and very interesting. [Footage of the Hindenburg disaster is easy to find on YouTube.]