Harper Academic

After the North Pole

A Story of Survival, Mythmaking, and Melting Ice

by Erling Kagge, Kari Dickson

On Sale: 02/11/2025

Price: $32.00

After the North Pole

Enlarge Book Cover

After the North Pole

A Story of Survival, Mythmaking, and Melting Ice

by Erling Kagge, Kari Dickson

On Sale: 02/11/2025

Format:

Price: $32.00

About the Book

The Norwegian explorer, philosopher and acclaimed writer chronicles his historic 58-day journey to the North Pole on skis in this thought-provoking memoir that is also a profound meditation about nature and our place within it. 

The North Pole looms large in our collective psyche—the ultimate Otherland in a world mapped and traversed. It is the center of our planet’s rotation, one of the places that is most vulnerable in an epoch of global climate change. Its sub-zero temperatures and strange year of one sunset and one sunrise make it an eerie, utterly disorienting place that challenges human endurance and understanding.

Erling Kagge and his friend Børge Ousland became the first people “to ever reach the pole without dogs, without depots and without motorized aids,” skiing for 58 days from a drop off point on the ice edge of Canada’s northernmost island.

In magisterial prose, Erling narrates his epic, record-making journey, probing the physical challenges and psychological motivations for embarking on such an epic expedition, the history of the territory’s exploration, its place in legend and art, and the thrilling adventures he experienced during the trek. It is another example of what bestselling author Robert MacFarlane has called “Kagge’s extraordinary life in wild places,”

Erling offers surprises on every page while observing the key role that this place holds in our current climate and geopolitical conversations. As majestic, mesmerizing, and monumental as the terrain it captures, After the North Pole is for anyone who has gazed out at the horizon—and wondered what happens if you keep going.

After the North Pole is illustrated with 12-14 photographs.

Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson.

Critical Praise

"A dazzling book — soulful, awe-inspiring, and deeply thought-provoking. Erling Kagge takes readers on a journey they’ll never forget." — Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life

"Erling Kagge's decades-long obsession with the North Pole has produced an extraordinary book that defies genre: an elegant travel account, a learned history and a psychological thriller wrapped in one. He evokes the 'silver-shining vacantness' of the North Pole like no one else could." — Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gulag: A History

"Exhilaratingly Epic as the Land in Grandeur, called HOME." — dg nanouk okpik, American Book Award-winning author of Corpse Whale

"A distinctive, thoughtful, and quietly moving work by that rarest of creatures, a genuine philosopher-explorer. Erling Kagge has heard the call of the wild as clearly as anyone, and in this gem of a book he demonstrates how the North Pole has served as a container of countless human hopes, dreams, and sorrows—including his own." — Darrell Hartman, author of Battle of Ink and Ice

“An electrifying memoir of a daring journey through Earth’s most unforgiving landscapes. Intrepid explorer and philosopher Erling Kagge masterfully intertwines the adrenaline of his 58-day ski trek to the apex of the world with captivating lore, forgotten histories of past expeditions to the frozen unknown, and profound reflections on survival and our planet's fragility. A bouillabaisse of pure delight.” — Laurie Gwen Shapiro, author of The Stowaway: A Young Man’s Extraordinary Adventure to Antarctica

"Erling Kagge charts a wondrous way to the North Pole, exploring the marvel and complexity of a place that exists both in reality and in our symbolic imagination. A fascinating and richly detailed book." — Paul Lynch, Booker Prize-winning author of Prophet Song

"A mesmerizing book... Kagge is an expert guide of the history, science, and adventures of the North Pole, showing us how one of the most remote and dangerous places on Earth can draw out our most elemental sensation: that of being fully alive in the world." — Ben Shattuck, author of The History of Sound: Stories

"Kagge honors all those who survived or perished in the Arctic Circle, many he rescued from obscurity, with incredible tales of heroism, romance, and tragedy. After the North Pole is written so engagingly about a part of the world for which I had no previous curiosity, yet found myself fascinated by the histories of Kagge's fellow explorers, who, like him, were blessed or cursed with a calling to trek there." — Griffin Dunne, author of The Friday Afternoon Club

"Layered into Erling Kagge's rich, evocative history of our quest to reach the North Pole—a quest characterized by dreams of conquest and exploitation, and ideas of romantic heroism, and tales of pain and suffering—is Kagge's own quest for the North Pole. We share his journey of beauty and fragility amid biting cold, gnawing hunger, and a life-threatening encounter with a polar bear. His story, of heaven and hell in one turn after another, is riveting." — Deborah Cramer, author of The Narrow Edge

"Erling Kagge is a deeply thoughtful writer who has a strong and very individual style. The North Pole proves to be the perfect subject for him." — Sir Michael Palin, English actor and author of Erebus and Pole to Pole

"With Erling Kagge alive and active, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I am not the only mad man alive at present. He is also, never mind his icy achievements, a brilliant author." — Sir Ranulph Fiennes, renowned British explorer and author of Shackleton

"I’ve lived the harshness of the polar regions, and Kagge captures it perfectly. After the North Pole brings you face-to-face with the raw, untamed beauty and unforgiving nature of the Arctic." — Mike Horn, explorer and author of Conquering the Impossible

"It’s rare to find an author and a subject so perfectly matched. Erling Kagge has not only journeyed to the North Pole, he’s spent years exploring its role in history, cartography, science, literature, and philosophy. This book is full of extraordinary stories and wisdom earned through hard experience. 'Think ahead, travel light, and leave your fears behind you,' one explorer advises. Much like the place itself, After the North Pole is memorable, inspiring, unsettling, and poetic." — Eric Schlosser, journalist and author of Command and Control

"Erling Kagge is an adventurer in the true sense of the word, exploring his curiosity with physical and intellectual and creative capabilities, all of which are prodigious, and fully engaging the reader in his adventures. At the conclusion of a Kagge read, I usually note my hands are sweating." — Bob Shaye, founder, New Line Cinema

-

Product Details

  • ISBN: 9780063421783
  • ISBN 10: 006342178X
  • Imprint: HarperOne
  • On Sale: 02/11/2025
  • Trimsize: 6.000 in (w) x 9.000 in (h) x 1.310 in (d)
  • Pages: 368
  • List Price: $32.00
  • BISAC1 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Survival
  • BISAC2 : BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Nature Therapy
  • BISAC3 : PHILOSOPHY: Environmental
  • BISAC4 : NATURE / Weather
  • BISAC5 : NATURE / Ecosystems & Habitats / Polar Regions
  • BISAC6 : SCIENCE / Earth Sciences / Geography
  • BISAC7 : SCIENCE / Natural History
  • BISAC8 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Adventurers & Explorers
  • BISAC9 : SPORTS & RECREATION / Extreme Sports
  • BISAC10 : TRAVEL / Polar Regions