Book & podcast collection

Battle of Ink and Ice: A Sensational Story of News Barons, North Pole Explorers, and the Making of Modern Media

byDarrell Hartman

Darrell Hartman recounts the fierce dispute between explorers Frederick Cook and Robert Peary over who first reached the North Pole. Their competing claims became a circulation war for powerful newspapers eager to turn exploration into spectacle. Editors, publishers, scientists, sponsors, and readers debated evidence while sensational coverage blurred reporting, promotion, and fraud. Spanning decades of Arctic ambition and media rivalry, the book shows how modern celebrity and “fake news” grew together. Hartman presents the Pole not only as a geographic prize but as a story manufactured through ink, money, and public appetite.

Publisher

Penguin Publishing Group

Publication date

2023

Format

Print edition

Pages

—

ISBN

9780593297162