Bruce Henderson (1)Rezensionen

Extraordinary book. Well researched. Doesn't hide the good, the bad and the horrendous! I am usually not one to like books about military history, but this book was very fascinating.

Following the Civil War President Grant wanted to unite the country through various ways, one being the exploration of the North Pole masterminded by a two-time Artic explorer from Cincinnati. Fatal North: Adventure and Survival Aboard the USS Polaris, the First U.S. Expedition to the North Pole by Bruce Henderson follows the internally divided and essentially doomed expedition that see’s its leader most likely murdered, and its crew allowed to go undisciplined afterwards that its surprising he was the only casualty.

Henderson essentially follows the expedition from the perspective of George Tyson, a subordinate officer on the ship, who like its leader Captain Charles Francis Hall, wanted to reach the North Pole but is stunned by the lack of motivation and decline of discipline by Hall’s successor. Tyson latter becomes the nominal leader—due to the drastic decline of discipline on the ship—of a group of crew and the expedition’s Inuit abandoned by the ship on the ice and survived six months before rescue. One of the biggest questions that Henderson attempts to tackle is if the expedition’s leader was murdered and if so who did the deed, but the evidence and time result in no hard conclusion.

Fatal North is historical book of adventure and survival with a dash of mystery that Bruce Henderson wraps together in easy-to-read prose that shows great research.

Wow -- Fatal North: Murder and Survival on the First North Pole Expedition, by Bruce Henderson, is an amazing book! First, the amount of research that went into this is amazing. Then, the fact that people are called to explore the harshest, farthest away spots on the planet is amazing. And the story itself -- murder, treachery, endurance in the most horrible of conditions, and such poor and clearly biased inquiry afterwards -- is amazing.

Excellent story about a group of German Jews who fought back against the Nazi with courage and dignity that was not accorded them in their German homeland.

Lasciarono la Germania per salvarsi. Tornarono per combattere i nazisti.
Negli anni trenta un gruppo di ragazzi ebrei riuscì ad abbandonare la Germania e a iniziare una nuova vita in America. Nonostante il permesso di arruolarsi nell’esercito, furono sempre considerati come stranieri di cui diffidare. Finché nel 1942 il Pentagono non comprese quale incredibile risorsa potessero rappresentare. Quegli uomini conoscevano la lingua, la cultura e la psicologia del nemico meglio di qualsiasi americano ed erano, più di chiunque altro, motivati a lottare contro il regime antisemita di Hitler. Fu così che fecero ritorno in Europa come “Ritchie Boys”, un’unità segreta dell’esercito americano. Addestrati nell’arte di interrogare prigionieri, duemila soldati ebrei vennero rispediti nella Germania nazista, in prima linea sui campi di battaglia. Il loro scopo era ottenere dai prigionieri di guerra informazioni vitali sui movimenti delle truppe e le strutture di comando: un’operazione che ebbe un enorme successo e si dimostrò decisiva per la vittoria delle forze Alleate. Alcuni di quegli eroi sono ancora vivi. (fonte: amazon)

La historia poco conocida de las personas que tuvieron que escapar del régimen nazi por su condición de judíos, a pesar de nacer y considerarse alemanes. De cómo vivían y escaparon a través de la Europa ocupada, pudieron llegar a Estados Unidos y decidieron unirse al ejército americano para luchar contra el nazismo. Se retrata su entrenamiento el el Camp Ritchie y su lucha a través de Frrancia, Países Bajos y la llegada a Alemania. Un merecido recuerdo a los 1985 hombres (aquí conocemos los pormenores de cinco de ellos) que expulsados por ser judíos decidieron hacer su contribución en esta guerra.Un relato que se lee como una emocionante novela, aunque suene a tópico: la realidad supera la ficción.½

I am far from being a World War II historian, but I have a particular interest in the war’s European theatre and have read a few books on the fighting that took place in that part of the world. Still, for whatever reason, I had not heard of the exploits and important contributions to the war effort made in Europe by a unique group of young men known as the Ritchie Boys before picking up Bruce Henderson’s Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler.

As Hitler’s intentions toward the Jews became more and more obvious, Jewish parents began to scramble for ways to get their families out of Germany and the rest of Nazi-occupied Europe before it was too late. But there were quotas and other delays to deal with in countries such as the United States and Canada. Ultimately, because obtaining visas and otherwise negotiating all of the paperwork involved in that whole exercise was such a time-consuming process, many thousands of Jews wanting to escape never made it. However, many desperate Jewish families were able to get at least their sons to the United States – and many of these brand-new U.S. citizens could not wait to return to Germany to fight the Nazis who had taken so much from them and their families.

Rather surprisingly (and I’m honestly surprised here because the military does not always work this way), someone in the U.S. Army had the foresight to understand just how big an asset these Ritchie Boys could be if used as interrogators of captured German prisoners. They knew the language, they intimately understood the culture that had spawned their prisoners, and they knew just how to provoke (or trick) those prisoners into revealing much more than they wanted to reveal to their interrogators. And they knew precisely how best to put the pieces of gathered intelligence together in order to do the most damage to the German army possible.

Ritchie Boy intelligence teams were assigned to all the major combat units in Europe. They jumped out of airplanes in France with the 82nd Airborne, they fought their way from Normandy through Belgium and the Netherlands, and they were deep inside Germany when the war in Europe finally ended. It is estimated that some sixty percent of the intelligence gathered in Europe during World War II originated with the Ritchie Boys. Not only did these men face certain death if captured and identified as German Jews by the German army, they faced a similar threat from U.S. soldiers who often found it difficult to distinguish them from the German infiltrators who sometimes wore the uniforms of captured or killed American soldiers. Despite these special dangers, the Ritchie Boys contributed greatly to the Allied effort to defeat Hitler, and they saved thousands of lives in the process.

Bottom Line: Sons and Soldiers reveals a long-kept secret about a group of young men who deserve much more honor and credit for what they accomplished during World War II than they have received. Bruce Henderson’s account of the war experiences of six of these men is well researched and reads almost like a war thriller at times. What the Ritchie Boys did was remarkable, and it is a shame that it took this long for a book like this one to be written about them.

When Gunther Stern was in school in Germany, the students were assigned to cut out pages from their books and replace them with new pages. He realized the pages being taken out of the books all dealt with major accomplishments by Jews. Later on, while he was in college in the United States and was called “Guy,” he had the opportunity to interview German novelist Thomas Mann, winner of the1929 Nobel Prize in literature , who told him "dictators can never be appeased because they will never be satisfied with the territorial gains." Mann also discussed advocacy for national health insurance in the United States: “A democracy is only strong if every citizen is guaranteed his own social well-being, which must include affordable medical treatment, a chance for an education, and a pension...I wish for young people like you to have a tuition-free college education.”
While still in Europe, Martin Selling was incarcerated at Dachau. The camp was a hierarchy of violence: the young German soldiers were subject to such harsh treatment by their leaders that they were quick to vent their pent-up anger on inmates. The process reminded Martin of training attack dogs. After he was able to leave Dachau, he went to England awaiting a visa to come to the US. He was placed in a refugee camp there. Two months later, England was at war. He and the other thousands of the German Jews of the camp were classified as "enemy aliens." A British army unit came to the camp and set up a special radio monitoring system. There were problems with the system, but the British refused to listen to suggestions from the young men and the operation was ended.
Victor Brombert, while attending a Pennsylvania boarding school in early 1941, was invited to a women’s club luncheon. When he answered their questions about Europe, the women were polite but didn’t believe him. They liked his comments about how grateful he was that he and his family were safely in America but when he said he hoped the US would get into the war and help defeat Hitler their attitude changed. They felt that he was misinformed or exaggerating. He then began to understand isolationism. After Pearl Harbor, when he gave the valedictorian speech at his graduation, he said the same things but the audience of students, parents, and instructors wildly applauded him even though he had said hardly anything about Japan.
After arriving in the United States in 1939, Werner Angress volunteered for the Army and was inducted in 1941. During training at Fort Mead, no one in the division seemed bothered by his German accent. In June 1942 the company moved to another camp near Jacksonville, Florida. Since he hadn't become a naturalized citizen, he automatically became an enemy alien. The men in his division were treated like menial workers and insulted by the other soldiers. They were transferred to Ft. Richie, Maryland. where they secretly trained and then sent in groups of two or three to join European-based units where they would serve in the front lines to interview German prisoners soon after capture.

Because of the demand, those who graduated from the course were usually promoted to one of four lower ranks. But at the completion of his two courses, Brombert, at age twenty, went from private to Master Sergeant, a promotion usually attained by career soldiers after years in the Army. In early May 1944, he was tapped to speak to a large group of officers about what they might find in France as they moved inland after the invasion. The area for the mythical town for the practice was Calais where the distance across the channel is the narrowest and where many, including Hitler and his army generals, thought was most likely place for the Allied landings. Brombert was not familiar with that area, so he chose a region he knew well: Normandy. The area he had chosen was Omaha Beach.
While being interviewed, a former concentration camp guard said, with no discernible emotion, he frequently volunteered for the execution squad. Stern asked him why he volunteered. The former guard shrugged and said. “If I hadn't, someone else would have." He explained that there was a bonus for volunteering. “ I would get a pass to go to Berlin where the great concert halls are still open. I love concerts, especially Beethoven and Mozart.” Stern was shaken by the prisoner’s admissions, especially by his matter-of-fact demeanor – so conversational, with little prodding, no apparent guilt. Because he was so immersed in Nazism, the German was unable to recognize the enormity of his own actions.
The teams often had the freedom to operate independently. One night Angress decided to join one of the regiments battalions in the hope that they would take some new prisoners he could interrogate. When he found no new prisoners waiting at the command post he moved even closer to the front lines. Shortly after midnight he witnessed his first nighttime German infantry attack by the light of rocket launchers. Cheering and shouting encouragement to one another, SS soldiers charged uphill, straight into the machine gunfire of the paratroopers. Even as the German bodies began to stack up, the SS kept coming, trying frantically to reach the crest and overwhelm the US company.
Suddenly, two Americans ran past. Angress headed to the rear. He recognized them as the captain, who was the company commander, and his top sergeant. They were fleeing to safety! This meant the machine-gun company was now leaderless. The young Jewish lieutenant ran to lead the company yelling, “I have command.” He issued all the right commands. None of the Americans broke their positions in the attack was thwarted. Angress crept from one dead German to the next, searching their pockets for documents that might contain important information.
On December 15, 1944, Brombert and another member of the group made a special trip to Army Headquarter in Bastogne about a large buildup of German troops in the area. The colonel in charge discounted the information and said, “Our lines are thin. We'll just have to sit and wait. Anyhow, it's probably a diversionary action. Forget it.” The next morning around 5:30 AM they heard and saw what he thought was thunder accompany by flashes of lightning. It was the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge.
After the end of hostilities, the Ritchie Boys were present at the liberation of the concentration camps. At Buchenwald, Stephan Lewy and a group of soldiers took several empty trucks to Weimar and told the mayor he needed 100 men a day to come to the camps with him, clean the camps, and bury the dead. When the townspeople saw the surroundings, they immediately began denying responsibility. Some went so far as to complain about the smell, the result of blind obedience to authority.
Stern arrived three days after its liberation. When he had interviewed individual Third Reich soldiers, they were unwilling or unable to see the enormity of what they had done or accept any responsibility. They all claim to have been lowly functionaries only following orders.
Residents of Ludwigslust, especially those who held some official position or been members of the Nazi party, were required to dig 200 graves in the manicured gardens of the Ottoman palace located there. Furthermore the entire adult population had to attend the mass funeral service after which they would walk between the rows of graves paying their respects to the victims. Each of the deceased lay next to his or her grave, the bodies wrapped in white sheets locals were required to provide from home, with their faces uncovered. Dozens of captured German officers, including five generals, were also made to attend.
The end of the book is a brief account of the lives of the six Ritchie Boys included in the book after the war. It also includes a roster of all those who served in the unit including a list of those who died during the war.
I bought this book after hearing the author speak about it. In the audience that night were two Richie boys who comments supported and added to the story.

Maybe you, like me, have read so many World War II novels you’re feeling “oversaturated” (did I make up that word?) with them. SONS AND SOLDIERS is different. First, it’s fact, not a novel. Second, it should make you want to turn its pages like it is your first World War II book because this is probably a story you haven’t heard before.

This is a true story about the “Ritchie Boys,” six of them in particular. They were Jews who grew up in 1930s Germany when it was being changed by the Nazi party. SONS AND SOLDIERS follows these six from then to their escaping Germany for the United States to their eventual service in the U.S. Army. At Camp Ritchie in Maryland, each of them learned to interrogate German POWs (and French people in some cases). In this way, these men become heroes for the valuable information they extracted that helped us win World War II.

SONS AND SOLDIERS is not just a book about war and it’s not even just a book about the injustices the Nazi party imposed on Jews. This book is also full of real incidences in the lives of each of the six Ritchie Boys from the time they entered the army to the end of the war with Germany.

Read SONS AND SOLDIERS for its look into the little-known experiences of the so-called “enemy aliens,” Jewish Germans who became U.S. citizens to interrogate German POWs.

I won this book through JathanandHeather.com.

Fans of history books will be thrilled with this book. Sons and Soldiers is a true, rare gem! A treasure of a read. This is the first time that I have heard the word Ritchie Boys. Reading how the boys came to be separated from their families to have a chance to live and fight for freedom is amazing. You can't help but think of today's times and the disrespect that people have for the United States. Way back as people migrated to the United States, they learned English and came to love this new world as their new home and were wiling to fight for their country.

As Werner would have said, "He would have a lot of firsts during the war in Normandy". First time flying, first parachute jump, first night jump, and first combat jump.

Reading and soaking all of this rich history in kept me captivated by all of these brave young men. How Werner and other men were separated from their units and found each other to form a new unit, being captured and rescued and the knowledge of many men losing their lives. Mr. Henderson does an excellent job of sharing these stories.

The footnotes provided additional historical facts. For example: Between 1939 and 1944, more than 75,000 Jews were rounded up and deported from France to Nazi death camps in Poland, where an estimated 72,500 of them perished in the camps.

An account of the deprivations and eventual rescue of 2,000+ American and British prisoners held by the Japanese near Los Banos, Philippines. Very well written, researched, and constructed so that the reader is able to understand all the various viewpoints and how the rescue was planned and unfolded. I learned new information about the Pacific Theater of Operation in the Philippines. Recommended.

The contributions of the Jews has often been overlooked. For example, Jews fought on behalf of Russia as patriotic Soviet citizens; Jews also fought on behalf of the United States against Germany. These stories are lesser-known but important to consider in seeing and understanding the efforts of Jews during the war.

Interesting account of a little-known rescue on Luzon.

Dude... where's my review?!? It's gone! Stupid software . I'll try to recreate a little bit of it:

I do recommend this book. It's been sorta verified. I suspect there's been quite a bit of exaggeration in the book but even if only half true it was an amazing story or true. I can't imagine ever being a Vietnam POW - oh man, you gotta read it if you're at all interested in the Vietnam war.

Good reading. Seemingly more thoroughly researched than Halseys Typhoon. At its core, it is still a terrible tragedy and none of the various responsible parties were held responsible, other than in the most superficial manner. Given the draconian discipline meted out to fleet sailors, it is a shame that their superiors were given such latitude.
This book is a good read.

Very fascinating book. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a great job.

I learned that Peary had discovered the North Pole. Turns out that may not be true. Bruce Hendeson tells the story of Cook and Peary both trying to be the first to reach the North Pole.

Both men had worked together on an earlier norther expedition. Cook had parted ways and explored Alaska. Then took a shot at reaching the North Pole. At the same time Peary was organizing another attempt at the unexplored top of the world.

RESCUE AT LOS BANOS by Bruce Henderson
All of us know about the Bataan Death March, but few know about the civilians who were interned for the duration of World War II at Los Banos Prisoner of War Camp in the Phillippines. Los Banos Camp, situated in a lush agricultural area of the Philippines, was home to thousands of civilians – men, women and children – from a number of countries, but mostly from the United States. When Sadaaki Konishi was made commandant in 1944, conditions in the camp became unendurable. Food rations were cut to starvation levels, cruelty and inhumane practices commenced and the prisoners were scheduled for annihilation. The 11th Airborne was assigned to rescue them in a desperate race against the end of the war and the wholesale killing of all POW’s by the Japanese.
Henderson has written an account of the round-up of the civilians and their experiences in the camps that focuses on several interned families and individuals, the soldiers charged with rescuing them and the cruelty of Konishi. Intimate family narratives carry along the story of courage, daring and fortitude. The fact filled book reads like a well-paced, but harrowing, novel. WWII buffs will appreciate the many notes and appendices, while ordinary readers will be caught up in the daring, and ultimately triumphant, raid.
5 of 5 stars

It took a little bit to get into this book, but once I did, I listened to it everyday on my way home from work as a way to let go of the thoughts of work. As the polar race progressed, the author's bias did show, but after listening to the whole book, I think some bias towards Cook was really deserved.
What I learned from this book: Peary was a rat bas*&^d. I shouted this at the CD player more than a few times. He was a rat bas*(&& to his wife, to his obligations with the Navy, to the Eskimo peoples, to anyone else who got in his way of fame in the Arctic, and especially to Cook and anyone associated with Cook. RAT B(*&*&^.
Cook most likely found the North Pole first, but his proofs could not be found. Peary most likely missed the Pole.
Polar exploration works much better if you go as a small expedition and work closely with the native peoples, who live there all the time.
Eventually the truth will out, although it may take a long, long time.

At first, the exposition seems overwhelmingly lengthy (Who expects a Vietnam War story to begin in Germany during World War II?), but the more I read the more I understood how important it is to the story and to understanding Dieter's character and motivations. Well told, and well read. A gripping piece of non-fiction.

Dieter's story of survival in the jungles of Laos was a gripping tale to say the least. As a former Army Vietnam veteran myself, I was intrigued by all the goings-on of an aircraft carrier and have to admit that while reading Bruce Henderson's story of Dieter Dengler, I found the book to be an enjoyable learning experience for me. I was especially taken back when there was mention about a fellow pilot of Dieter's, Donald Woloczak, from Alpena, Michigan and how he became MIA during the war. You see, I have been wearing a bronze POW bracelet of Donald Woloczak for the last thirty years, and the information shared by the author was new and seemed to fill in the gaps.

I, too, was born in Germany, but six years after the end of WWII. However, I've seen the destruction of war and have heard similar war survival stories from my family in the old country - the experience matures you quickly.

As for the living conditions and treatment of Dieter and others during their captivity is beyond anything human. But one must do whatever is necessary in order to survive. The chase left me on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. The scene of Dieter and his fellow POW running into the villager took my breath away. It was great that his escape from Laos was successful, but it appears that he could not escape from the tormenting in his head. Great job Bruce, and thank you for the education! Five Stars for Hero Found.

John Podlaski, author
Cherries - A Vietnam War Novel

One of the great controversies in American history centers around the discovery of the North Pole. Was Peary the first there? Or Cook? Or neither? In “True North,” Bruce Henderson marshals the evidence now available into a compelling narrative of the quest. To the world of 1900, the race to the northernmost point on earth was just as hotly contested as the race to the moon two-thirds of a century later. In Henderson’s telling, the question as to who was actually first to stand on an ice floe atop the Arctic Sea pales in comparison to the motivations of the two individuals. We are left with no doubt as to where Henderson’s sympathies lie, as he describes Peary driven toward conquest of the Pole at all costs, and brooking no competition in his lifelong campaign to achieve fame. We see Cook, by contrast, as a medical doctor who developed a passion for adventuring in a world of ice, in the company of the native people whom he studied and admired. Roald Amundsen, another great explorer of the period, would say that Cook had as good a claim as Peary to have been first at the Pole. In “True North,” Bruce Henderson strongly suggests that, whatever the facts of the race, Dr. Cook was head and shoulders above Peary when it came to character and human decency.

This is an extraordinary story, with tons of vignettes that many servicemen can relate to. The writing is tight, and direct making the story very interesting and easy to follow.

The author, Bruce Henderson, has done a remarkable job providing us insight into this hero's life. And I'm very grateful to learn about this man's life, and his background leading up to the main part of the book.

A well written and researched account of how and why Halsey sailed into a typhoon and how and why three destroyers were lost.

True North: Peary, Cook, and the Race to the Pole by Bruce Henderson places itself within the longstanding debate of who reached the North Pole first: Dr. Frederick A. Cook or Navy Officer Robert E. Peary. Both claimed to have reached it within one year of each other, Cook in April of 1908 and Peary in April of 1909. Historically, credit for the North Pole discovery has gone to Peary, and much criticism has been aimed at Cook for fabricating his story. Henderson addresses the possibility that Cook may have reached the Pole first and has thus been cheated of his acclamation. A reexamination of evidence, Henderson hopes, will shed more light on the controversy because recent history has charged that Peary lied about the distances he travelled while Cook has gained merit due to his accurate descriptions of the northern regions verified by later explorers. Henderson begins True North when the two are just children, setting up a foundation to help readers understand the two men and what may have motivated their drive to reach the pole. It is not until the middle of the book, in fact, that the race to the North Pole becomes the focus.

Cook and Peary initially worked together to cross and map the Greenland ice cap. Due to conflict during the expedition, Cook decided not to work with Peary again when called upon to do so, instead choosing to lead Greenland expeditions of his own. Peary returned to Greenland to collect iron meteorites sacred to the native people while Cook returned to take up tourist groups of hunters and explorers. Beginning in 1898, Peary made a few failed attempts to reach the North Pole and Cook ventured to the South Pole (1897-1899) and to the summit of Mt. McKinley (1906). During the years in Greenland he spent to achieve his goal, Henderson describes in detail how Peary abused the native people of Greenland, cheated on his wife, and grew increasingly obsessed with fame. Contrasted against this was Cooks modest desire to explore and record. It was not until 1907 that Cook secretly decided to try to reach the North Pole, setting out with two natives and one white man in early 1908, covering the 500 miles in just two months. During the return trip, the Cook explorers got trapped over winter and did not return until 1909. Over the course of this delay, Peary reached the North Pole and claimed the discovery for himself, though he had yet to announce it by the time Cook returned from his expedition. Before Peary was even back from his mission, Cook sent off his own story to a newspaper and proclaimed to the world that he had discovered the North Pole. After Peary declared that he had discovered the North Pole first, it had to be decided who had really done it first, if at all.

Back at home, the controversy began when Cook, challenged to produce his data, could not because Peary refused to bring it home on his ship. Embroiled in a smear campaign against his honor, Cook was soon denied notoriety and credit for the discovery of the North Pole, which was given to Peary despite his own questionable data. Though Henderson never explicitly states who he believes discovered the pole and does not take sides throughout the book, it is clear that he believes the honor of the discovery should go to Cook, since it appears from record that he got the closest to the pole. Evident in his depictions of Cook versus Peary, Henderson’s motive is to prove that Cook was indeed cheated out of a victory that was rightfully his. Through Henderson’s descriptions, Peary is shown to be an egotistical and hard-handed man concerned only with fame, with a boisterous attitude and little respect for other people. In opposition, Cook is portrayed as being very humble and quiet, an inventive man who is content to share victory. When the events of the contested pole discovery come about, Henderson details how Cook was thwarted his due by Peary’s sabotage, and raises suspicion for Peary’s claim by pointing out that Peary would not hand over his own notes for inspection before Cook released a statement, insinuating that Peary was getting information from Cook to use in his own dubious notes. As told by Henderson, Cook’s evidence, though he produced no notes as proof and with only a diary and the statements of him and his Eskimo companions to back him up, is still more credible than Peary and the incomplete notes he supplies. It is even insinuated that Peary was responsible for Cook later going to prison for mail fraud because the judge trying the case was a friend of the family. Henderson finishes up his assessment by listing all of the ways in which Cook was right or credible in both his pole and Mt McKinley claims. So, despite Henderson never explicitly stating to support Cook, it comes through in his presentation of facts and their evident bias. Whether or not the facts are true as stated, Henderson clearly wants us to see things a certain way.

Henderson’s source usage raises concerns over his presentation of facts and how they support his central purpose. True North is rich in detail and follows the separate and intertwining paths of Cook and Peary closely, even to minute detail. Yet the background provided, including an array of personal stories and emotions too intimate to be part of common knowledge, is given no footnoted documentation, which calls into question the validity of the information, its truthfulness, and whether or not Henderson is being true to the facts and portraying them accurately. A reader would have a difficult time verifying many of the things said and claimed to have happened by Henderson. Henderson does provide a selection of source notes at the end of the book, which serve the purpose of explaining where some of the specific personal statements come from. These are actually very informative and valuable to the credibility of the story because they are all primary sources, sources that come direct from people involved or in the time- they are the words of Cook, of Peary, of people witness to the events in question. There is included a bibliography at the back, but without the aid of footnotes, one cannot tell if the books listed at the end are indeed used and where.

True North is a very well written and engaging book, not at all difficult to read and follow. Bruce Henderson is a writer by career with over 20 nonfiction books in his catalog, and he instructs writing classes at Stanford University. Though very skilled at writing, capable of writing a book that is as informative as it is entertaining, it is important to keep in mind that Henderson is not a trained historian and therefore may have approached his subjects with an eye for writing a good story rather than telling balanced fact based history, which would explain his treatment of sources and clear bias. Even with Henderson’s notable favoritism, however, the book does present a complete story and sequence of events for both camps. Additionally, the book is full of information about ice travel, geography, and Eskimo culture. For anyone interested in the lives of Cook and Peary, in Arctic travel, or in exploration in general, True North would be well worth the read.