Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) was the father of modern polar exploration. Nansen was a Renaissance Man born out of his time into the new Norway of Ibsen and Grieg. He was an artist and historian, a diplomat who had dealings with Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin, and he also undertook famine relief in Russia.

Behind the great polar explorers of the early twentieth century—Amundsen, Shackleton, Scott in the South, and Peary in the North—looms the spirit of Fridtjof Nansen, the mentor of them all. He was the father of modern polar exploration, the last act of territorial discovery before the leap into space began. A restless, unquiet Faustian spirit, Nansen was a Renaissance Man born out of his time in Norway. He was an adventurer, an artist and historian, and a diplomat who had dealings with Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin, and played a part in the Versailles Peace Conference.

Review
'[NANSEN] is a rare thing, a work of immense scholarship blazing with insight...' Beryl Bainbridge, LITERARY REVIEW '[Huntford's] NANSEN has been longawaited. It is a triumph ... a hugely satisfying biography' Paul Theroux, GUARDIAN 'It is a book which takes us outward through the life of another and from there inward into our own. What more can you ask of a biography?' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Roland Huntford has captured something of the restless romantic within. It is an accomplished biography at every level.' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Roland Huntford is the author of two best-selling polar biographies, SHACKLETON (1985) and SCOTT AND AMUNDSEN (1979), filmed for TV as the acclaimed series THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH. He was the London OBSERVER's Scandinavian correspondent & speaks fluent Norwegian.