In the Land of White Death : An Epic Story of Survival in the Siberian Arctic Hardcover – October 24, 2000 by Alison Anderson (Author), Linda Dubosson (Author), Valerian Albanov (Translator),
 
In 1912, six months after Robert Falcon Scott and four of his men came to grief in Antarctica, a thirty-two-year-old Russian navigator named Valerian Albanov embarked on an expedition that would prove even more disastrous. In search of new Arctic hunting grounds, Albanov's ship, the Saint Anna, was frozen fast in the pack ice of the treacherous Kara Sea-a misfortune grievously compounded by an incompetent commander, the absence of crucial nautical charts, insufficient fuel, and inadequate provisions that left the crew weak and debilitated by scurvy.For nearly a year and a half, the twenty-five men and one woman aboard the Saint Anna endured terrible hardships and danger as the icebound ship drifted helplessly north. Convinced that the Saint Anna would never free herself from the ice, Albanov and thirteen crewmen left the ship in January 1914, hauling makeshift sledges and kayaks behind them across the frozen sea, hoping to reach the distant coast of Franz Josef Land. With only a shockingly inaccurate map to guide him, Albanov led his men on a 235-mile journey of continuous peril, enduring blizzards, disintegrating ice floes, attacks by polar bears and walrus, starvation, sickness, snowblindness, and mutiny. That any of the team survived is a wonder. That Albanov kept a diary of his ninety-day ordeal-a story that Jon Krakauer calls an "astounding, utterly compelling book," and David Roberts calls "as lean and taut as a good thriller"-is nearly miraculous.First published in Russia in 1917, Albanov's narrative is here translated into English for the first time. Haunting, suspenseful, and told with gripping detail, In the Land of White Death can now rightfully take its place among the classic writings of Nansen, Scott, Cherry-Garrard, and Shackleton.
 
From Booklist
Albanov's annals record his retreat in 1914 to civilization from a disastrous voyage into the Arctic Ocean. First published in Russian in 1917, the book has languished in oblivion, perhaps overshadowed by the Russian Revolution, or perhaps because ship and crew were hunters, not explorers. Its first U.S. publication, as part of Modern Library's Exploration series, edited by Into Thin Air author Jon Krakauer, capitalizes on the growing popularity of adventure books in general and on the taste for polar exploits in particular. Albanov's story begins with his admission of his motivation for leaving the Santa Anna: conflict with his captain. By early 1914, the ship and crew, who had sailed for new hunting grounds off Siberia, had drifted in ice for two winters. Ten men joined Albanov in man-hauling sledges and kayaks toward the nearest known land: Franz Josef Land, an archipelago hundreds of miles south. The ensuing ordeal, during which Albanov kept the diary that became this book, tormented the men with cold, blizzards, and hunger. No mere describer of discomfort, Albanov reflects on the gradations by which men adjust to them, along with their gyrations of hope and despair of survival on ice that drifts and splits. Though not a braggart, Albanov also notes his singular leadership in cajoling an increasingly lethargic group to press on despite deaths, one incident of thievery, and multiple disheartening setbacks. His understated sorrow at the lost lives, and thankfulness for his own and one fellow survivor's deliverance, will not release readers until the final page. As said in the introduction by David Roberts, Albanov's work truly merits inclusion with the writings of Shackleton and Scott in the canon of polar literature. A 100,000 first printing should help generate the attention this lost masterpiece deserves. Gilbert TaylorCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
 
7.13