Hampton Sides Books

"A chronicle of the extraordinary feats of heroism by Marines called on to do the impossible during the greatest battle of the Korean War."...Provided by publisher

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A white-knuckle tale of polar exploration and heroism in the Gilded Age from the New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers. • “A splendid book in every way…a marvelous nonfiction thriller.” —The Wall Street Journal On July 8, 1879, Captain George Washington De Long and his team of thirty-two men set sail from San Francisco on the USS Jeanette. Heading deep into uncharted Arctic waters, they carried the aspirations of a young country burning to be the first nation to reach the North Pole. Two years into the harrowing voyage, the Jeannette's hull was breached by an impassable stretch of pack ice, forcing the crew to abandon ship amid torrents of rushing of water. Hours later, the ship had sunk below the surface, marooning the men a thousand miles north of Siberia, where they faced a terrifying march with minimal supplies across the endless ice pack. Enduring everything from snow blindness and polar bears to ferocious storms and labyrinths of ice, the crew battled madness and starvation as they struggled desperately to survive. With thrilling twists and turns, In The Kingdom of Ice is a spellbinding tale of heroism and determination in the most brutal place on Earth.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of Ghost Soldiers comes an eye-opening history of the American conquest of the West—"a story full of authority and color, truth and prophecy" (The New York Times Book Review). In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of “Manifest Destiny,” this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness. At the center of this sweeping tale is Kit Carson, the trapper, scout, and soldier whose adventures made him a legend. Sides shows us how this illiterate mountain man understood and respected the Western tribes better than any other American, yet willingly followed orders that would ultimately devastate the Navajo nation. Rich in detail and spanning more than three decades, this is an essential addition to our understanding of how the West was really won.

The classic bestselling history "The New York Times" has called original, remarkable, and finally heartbreaking is available in a special 30th-anniversary edition. 56 illustrations.

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. National glory would fall to whoever could plant his flag upon its shores. James Gordon Bennett, the eccentric and stupendously wealthy owner of The New York Herald, had recently captured the world's attention by dispatching Stanley to Africa to find Dr. Livingstone. Now he was keen to re-create that sensation on an even more epic scale. So he funded an official U.S. naval expedition to reach the Pole, choosing as its captain a young officer named George Washington De Long, who had gained fame for a rescue operation off the coast of Greenland. De Long led a team of 32 men deep into uncharted Arctic waters, carrying the aspirations of a young country burning to become a world power. On July 8, 1879, the USS Jeannette set sail from San Francisco to cheering crowds in the grip of "Arctic Fever." The ship sailed into uncharted seas, but soon was trapped in pack ice. Two years into the harrowing voyage, the hull was breached. Amid the rush of water and the shrieks of breaking wooden boards, the crew abandoned the ship. Less than an hour later, the Jeannette sank to the bottom, and the men found themselves marooned a thousand miles north of Siberia with only the barest supplies. Thus began their long march across the endless ice -- a frozen hell in the most lonesome corner of the world. Facing everything from snow blindness and polar bears to ferocious storms and frosty labyrinths, the expedition battled madness and starvation as they desperately strove for survival

A narration of the 1945 march to rescue 513 POWs, including the last survivors of the Bataan Death March, from a prison in the Philippines.

Focusing on Captain James Cook's last voyage in 1776, this narrative blends high-seas adventure with a critical exploration of the Age of Exploration. It highlights the pivotal events that unfolded in Hawaii, showcasing the tensions between Cook's overt and covert missions. The voyage's impact is examined, revealing a complex and controversial legacy that continues to provoke debate among historians and scholars today.

Er galt als blinder Fleck, als Problem, als Ende der Welt und ewig ungelöstes Geheimnis: der Nordpol. Während andere rätselten und rechneten, schritt ein verrückter Zeitungsverleger auf der Jagd nach Sensationsgeschichten zur Tat. Er kaufte ein Schiff, erkor einen Kapitän und schickte im Juli 1879 dreiunddreißig Männer ins Eis – fest überzeugt von der Theorie eines offenen Polarmeeres. Doch nördlich der Beringstraße blieb die USS Jeannette im Packeis stecken. Was folgte, war einer der härtesten Überlebenskämpfe der Geschichte; meilenweite Märsche über das gefrorene Meer, Schneeblindheit, Erfrierungen, Stürme und Hunger brachten die Mannschaft an ihre physischen und mentalen Grenzen. Mit erzählerischer Kraft und einem unvergleichlichen Gespür für Dramaturgie entfaltet Hampton Sides in seinem NYT-Bestseller die tragische Geschichte dieser großen, gescheiterten Polarexpedition und zeigt die fatalen Folgen falscher Hypothesen und den Wahnwitz menschlicher Ruhmsucht

Am 28. Januar 1945 brechen auf den Philippinen 121 amerikanische Soldaten einer Elitetruppe zu einem Himmelfahrtskommando auf. Ihre Aufgabe: die Befreiung von 513 Kameraden aus einem japanischen Kriegsgefangenenlager, denen nach Jahren des Hungers, der Seuchen und sadistischer Willkür die Exekution droht. Hampton Sides' spannungsgeladener Bericht über eine spektakuläre Rettungsaktion.