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 (1861–1930), the father of modern polar exploration. Roland Huntford’s remarkable biography draws on a wealth of new material, including diaries and hitherto untapped documents. It uncovers a restless, Faustian spirit, a Renaissance man born out of his time, a pioneer in oceanography and skiing, one of the founders of neurology, an artist, historian, and diplomat. Above all, Nansen illustrates Carlyle’s dictum that "the history of the world is but the biography “of great men.²