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A staff member will lead a virtual book discussion on In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides. A copy of the book will be available to pick up at the Des Plaines Public Library - please come to the 3rd floor information desk. If you would like to have a copy set aside for you on the 1st floor hold shelf, please call (847) 376.2840 after you register to arrange this. The discussion will still be held online using Zoom.

Registration on the Des Plaines Public Library’s calendar is required for this Zoom virtual program. A Zoom meeting access link will be sent to you a day or so before the program begins.

If you need help using Zoom, see our guide here or email us at askalibrarian@dppl.org.

In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides

In the late nineteenth century, people were obsessed by one of the last unmapped areas of the globe: the North Pole. No one knew what existed beyond the fortress of ice rimming the northern oceans, although theories abounded. The foremost cartographer in the world, a German named August Petermann, believed that warm currents sustained a verdant island at the top of the world. James Gordon Bennett, the eccentric and stupendously wealthy owner of The New York Herald, funded an official U.S. naval expedition to reach the Pole, choosing as its captain a young officer named George Washington De Long. On July 8, 1879, the USS Jeannette set sail from San Francisco to cheering crowds.