Book Review: ‘Battle of Ink and Ice: A Sensational Story of New Barons, North Pole Explorers, and the Making of Modern Media’
BY MARK LARDAS MAY 18, 2023

Before reality television, people satisfied the urge to see new places and do new things by reading about the exploits of risk-takers, including explorers. Before the internet or radio, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the way to do that was through the newspaper.

Back then, the modern mass-market daily newspaper was still new.

In “Battle of Ink and Ice: A Sensational Story of New Barons, North Pole Explorers, and the Making of Modern Media,” Darrell Hartman threads together two themes: the rivalry between New York City’s major newspapers and polar exploration.

The first thread tells of the 19th-century emergence of the modern newspaper, in New York City. In 1835, James Gordon Bennett Sr. founded The New York Herald, the first paper that focused on news independent of political parties, the New York elite, or advertisers. It made Bennett one of the wealthiest men of the day and, simultaneously, the most hated (except for his readers) man in New York. Early parts of the book detail these New York newspaper battles.

Among the competing newspapers were the Herald—a Cook adherent—and The New York Times, which had recently been purchased by Adolph Ochs, who supported Peary. The Herald and the Times were fighting for New York’s “quality” readership. The question of who was first to the pole became a surrogate for the issue of newspaper credibility.

“Battle of Ink and Ice” is a delightful book and a story of publishing and scientific rivalry. Hartman’s book is entertaining and informative.

‘Battle of Ink and Ice: A Sensational Story of New Barons, North Pole Explorers, and the Making of Modern Media’
By Darrell Hartman
Viking, June 6, 2023
Hardcover: 400 pages

In 1868, his son, James Gordon Bennett Jr. took the reins at the Herald. He doubled down on news coverage, setting up foreign bureaus and using the then-new trans-Atlantic cable to bring European news to New York overnight.

He also began using the newspaper to create news, hiring Henry Morton Stanley to track down explorer David Livingstone in Africa. This ignited a trend among newspapers of funding exploration expeditions.

Polar exploration forms its second thread. By the 1890s, only the Arctic remained unexplored. Frederick Cook and Robert Peary were chief among the Arctic explorers. They became bitter rivals, with both claiming to have been the first to reach the North Pole. Both proved deceptive. The fame and fortune associated with exploration led both to report altered claims and observations. Neither reached the pole. A publicity brawl broke out, with partisans of the populist-preferred Cook and the patrician-favored Peary battling over claims.

I was attracted to this book because I always enjoy reading about Arctic exploration and had read nothing about the North Pole explorers; plus the idea of combining exploration with the development of modern media (and discovering exactly what that meant) sounded really interesting.

In the end the book was a mix for me. Mostly the "Battle of Ink and Ice" is about the history of the newspapers in New York, including very extensive biographies of founders. While much was interesting reading, I wasn't entirely convinced it all belonged in this particular book. Enough to explain the development of newspapers, especially the Times and Herald, yes- but this got into the weeds on so much more. It was overkill for me. By the time we got to Peary and Cook and their war about who had gotten to the North Pole, much of the newspaper history didn't even matter to me. The papers took sides, enjoyed creating sensations, and made lots of money out of it all. That was all I needed to know.

The explorers got the short end of the story, really only showing up towards the end where they come across as personalities trying to prove something that in the end, few people really thought mattered as such. It's a story we can all find familiar, something being blown up into a huge story when we aren't sure why it should be, because that's still how the media does things today. Maybe this was the beginning of it all, maybe not. While parts of the book were interesting, I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone interested in exploration- but certainly people interested in newspapers and the media will find it of interest.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Group Viking for an advance copy of this history on the interplay of media and exploration, and how these media wars continue to effect us today.

I have read a lot of books on exploration, especially polar exploration. I hate to say it but I like coldness of the environment, and sometimes the explorers themselves. The heroism, the villiany, and the terror. North and South, there have been many and I enjoyed them all. What always struck me and what was made in clear in this book was the importance of good public relations. A good article to gain an unknown explorer an audience with a wealthy donor, and exploration is not cheap. Good articles could lead to lucrative lecture series, or a bad article could kill a speaking career just starting. One paper, for papers were the medium of the time could make an average trip extraordinary, the bravest we as reporters have ever heard of, and sell many papers. Another could call a trek bunkem and hodge podge these so-called explorers never left their tents, and sell many papers. Papers sold, meant money, and power and even more money. Explorers could easily face the unknown out on the ice. It was the press that could be the more dangerous. Darrell Hartman in Battle of Ink and Ice: A Sensational Story of News Barons, North Pole Explorers, and the Making of Modern Media, looks at both exploration and how the press exploited these stories, selling papers, making money, and when needed rewriting the truth to fit the headline.

The book begins with an American explorer sending a telegram to his wife informing her that he was still alive after a long time out of contact. Frederick Cook was safe in the Shetland Islands in Scotland with a story to tell, which his following telegrams did. Cook claimed to have reached the North Pole, after years of many other explorers trying and failing. Cook telegrammed the publisher of the New York Herald promising him an exclusive on his travels 2,000 words. And began to make his way home, to thunderous acclaim and widespread interest. James Gordon Bennett was the publisher of the Herald, son of the founder who had really started the newspaper. Bennett was more sailor and playboy than publisher. His actions had led to his own self-exile from America due to a spray of embarrassment. Bennett began to writer about Cook as the great American hero, until another report began to go around. Robert Peary was also claiming that he had made it to the far north. And unlike Cook he had the evidence to back his statement, and a supporter in Albert Ochs, publisher of the New York Times. Soon the temperature was being raised as both newspapers supported their chosen explorers, with other papers, governments, groups and others claiming sides. A battle that will seem familiar in many ways to the media spats of today.

A book that covers both the frozen wilds, and the inner workings of the New York press rooms. A really interesting look at media barons, explorers, reporters and common people, both good and bad who all got caught up in this crazy media war. Hartman is a really good writer able to describe hulls on ships being caught in the ice, and the complicated financial chicanery that Ochs used to buy the Times. Not man writers could do that, and not lose the narrative, but Hartman balances both the cold, and ink parts of his story quite well. With a bit of humor, but it helps when most of the characters here are well weird is a good word for them. Hartman has a nice style, and readers never feel lost, nor wonder why something is gone into in such detail. Everything here is necessary, and really helps tell the story. Quite a different look at exploration, and an interesting look at the start of media consolidation.

Recommended for armchair explorers like myself who can't get enough of the cold and for those who are interested in the media, and where many of these companies began. A very well written book that will appeal to a lot of readers, and one that would be a perfect gift for those who appreciate thoughtful history books.