As a child, author Todd met Gen. Adolphus Washington Greeley then in his 80s who was a friend of Todd's grandfather and long before had led a disastrous expedition of 25 volunteers to a Canadian Arctic island off Greenland. Six survived. Todd writes that he never forgot the sad, scandalous story, which included rumors of cowardice and cannibalism.As a child, author Todd met Gen. Adolphus Washington Greeley then in his 80s who was a friend of Todd's grandfather and long before had led a disastrous expedition of 25 volunteers to a Canadian Arctic island off Greenland. Six survived. Todd writes that he never forgot the sad, scandalous story, which included rumors of cowardice and cannibalism.

Whether the reader is a student of history or someone unacquainted with Adolphus Greely's ill-fated expedition into the Arctic during the early 1880s, Alden Todd's book will prove interesting and informative.