In the tradition of <em>The Ice Master and Endurance</em>, here is the incrediblestory of the first truly modern explorer, whose death-defyingadventures and uncommon modesty make this book itself anextraordinary discovery. Hubert Wilkins was the most successfulexplorer in history—no one saw with his own eyes more undiscoveredland and sea. Largely self-taught, Wilkins became a celebratednewsreel cameraman in the early 1900s, as well as a reporter, pilot,spy, war hero, scientist, and adventurer, capturing in his lens warand famine, cheating death repeatedly, meeting world leaders likeLenin and Stalin, and circling the globe on a zeppelin. <p>Apprenticing with the greats of polar exploration, including Shackletonin the Antarctic, Wilkins recognized the importance of newtechnologies such as the airplane and submarine. He helped mapthe Canadian Arctic and plumbed the ocean depths from the icecap.A pioneer in the truest sense of the word, he became the firstman to fly across the North Pole, which won him a knighthood;the first to fly to the Antarctic and discover land there by airplane;and the first to take a submarine under the Arctic ice. Grasping thelink between the poles and changing global weather, Wilkins was avisionary in weather forecasting and the study of global warming.A true hero of the earth, he changed the way we look at our world.</p>