From Publishers Weekly
The author of Escape from Lucania uncovers an extraordinary tale, set in the mid-18th century, about four Russian hunters stranded on a desolate Arctic isle with scant resources, who survived for six years. Initially, Roberts is so preoccupied with debunking earlier histories of the shipwreck that the drama barely comes to life. He fumes at the shortcomings of other historians such as the "pomposities" and "basic mistakes" of the writer P.L. Le Roy. But these records give the author significant information as he embarks on his own Arctic journey in order to better understand his subjects. Luckily, few things can get in the way of a good story, and when Roberts manages to get out of his own way, he captures it with precise, thoughtful prose. With each discovery and every interview, he pieces together the mystery of how the four men actually survived. Whether detailing how these men fashioned clothing from animal hides, drank the warm blood of reindeer to prevent scurvy or crafted bows and arrows from "driftwood, polar bear tendons, flattened nails, and bird feathers," Roberts succeeds in creating an inspirational survival story. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
The tale at the heart of this recording is one of the greatest feats of wilderness survival in history, though it's virtually unknown. In 1743, four Russian walrus hunters were stranded on Svalbard with two days' supplies and stayed alive for more than six years. Beginning with one unreliable source document, Roberts doggedly pursues every thread of the story in libraries, Russian archives, and on Svalbard itself, during a two-week visit. In the process, he becomes the story, padding it with self-absorbed detail but also with fascinating digressions. He's helped along by Robertson Dean's reading, which is well paced and keeps the narrative moving, even when it threatens to get stuck in the ice. D.B. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
In 1743 a Russian ship bound for walrus-hunting grounds in the Arctic was wrecked by ice during a gale, stranding the vessel's four survivors on the barren island of Svalbard. They survived for six years with almost no provisions. The men miraculously found a prefabricated log cabin left behind by an earlier expedition. Their only possessions were a musket, a knife, an ax, a kettle, 20 pounds of flour, a tinderbox and a small amount of tinder, a pouch of tobacco, and four pipes. Roberts tells how they killed 10 polar bears with homemade lances and how they made bows and arrows to kill reindeer and foxes. Roberts, the author of 14 other books, writes that their lives depended on keeping a fire going, fueled only by driftwood. In researching the book, Roberts went to libraries and archives on two continents, and he led a four-man expedition to Svalbard. The book is an astonishing story, an almost unbelievable feat of survival. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
Peter Stark Author of Last Breath: the Limits of Adventure Four Against the Arctic is a fascinating inquiry by one of the world's best exploration writers into an incredible feat of survival. Using Sherlock Holmesian logical rigor and a mountaineer's wilderness savvy, David Roberts transports us on an engrossing and obsessive high-Arctic quest to unravel the mystery of the four shipwrecked Pomori sailors.


Book Description
When David Roberts came across a reference to four Russian sailors who had survived for six years on a barren Arctic island, he was incredulous. An expert on the literature of adventure, Roberts had never heard the story and doubted its veracity. His quest to find the true story turned into a near-obsession that culminated with his own journey to the same desolate island. In Four Against the Arctic Roberts shares the remarkable story that he discovered, perhaps the most amazing survival tale ever recorded. In 1743 a Russian ship bound for Arctic walrus-hunting grounds was blown off course and trapped in ice off the coast of Svalbard (Spitzbergen). Four sailors went ashore with only two days' supplies to look for an abandoned hut they knew about on the island. They found it and returned to tell their shipmates the good news, only to find that their ship had vanished, apparently crushed and sunk by the ice. The men survived more than six years until another ship blown off course rescued them. During that time they made a bow and arrows from driftwood (Svalbard has no trees) and killed nine polar bears in self-defense. They survived largely on reindeer meat, killing 250 of the animals during their ordeal. Fascinated as he was by this remarkable story, Roberts wondered how it had dwindled into obscurity. For two years he researched the tale in libraries and archives in the United States, France, and Russia. In Russia he traveled to the sailors' hometown, where he met the last survivors of their families, who knew the story from an oral tradition passed down for more than 250 years. Finally, with three companions he organized an expedition to the barren island of Edgeøya in southeast Svalbard, where he spent three weeks looking for remnants of the sailors' lost hut and walking the shores while pondering the men's astonishing survival. Four Against the Arctic is a riveting book about man versus nature and a delightfully engaging journey deep into an obsession with historical rediscovery. But it is more even than that: It is a meditation on the genius of survival against impossible odds that makes a story so inspirational that it still fires the imagination centuries later.


About the Author
David Roberts is the author of fifteen previous books on topics ranging from mountain climbing to adventure to Native Americans and the American West. He has written for numerous publications, including National Geographic, National Geographic Adventure, Smithsonian, The New York Times Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, and others. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When David Roberts came across a reference to four Russian sailors who had survived for six years on a barren Arctic island, he was incredulous. An expert on the literature of adventure, Roberts had never heard the story and doubted its veracity. His quest to find the true story turned into a near-obsession that culminated with his own journey to the same desolate island. In Four Against the Arctic Roberts shares the remarkable story that he discovered, perhaps the most amazing survival tale ever recorded. In 1743 a Russian ship bound for Arctic walrus-hunting grounds was blown off course and trapped in ice off the coast of Svalbard (Spitzbergen). Four sailors went ashore with only two days' supplies to look for an abandoned hut they knew about on the island. They found it and returned to tell their shipmates the good news, only to find that their ship had vanished, apparently crushed and sunk by the ice. The men survived more than six years until another ship blown off course rescued them. During that time they made a bow and arrows from driftwood (Svalbard has no trees) and killed nine polar bears in self-defense. They survived largely on reindeer meat, killing 250 of the animals during their ordeal.

Fascinated as he was by this remarkable story, Roberts wondered how it had dwindled into obscurity. For two years he researched the tale in libraries and archives in the United States, France, and Russia. In Russia he traveled to the sailors' hometown, where he met the last survivors of their families, who knew the story from an oral tradition passed down for more than 250 years. Finally, with three companions he organized an expedition to the barren island of Edgeoya in southeast Svalbard, where he spent three weeks looking for remnants of the sailors' lost hut and walking the shores while pondering the men's astonishing survival. Four Against the Arctic is a riveting book about man versus nature and a delightfully engaging journey deep into an obsession with historical rediscovery. But it is more even than that: It is a meditation on the genius of survival against impossible odds that makes a story so inspirational that it still fires the imagination centuries later.

FROM THE CRITICS

The Washington Post

Roberts seems to have written this one at the speed of research, each failed fax, unreturned phone call or indecipherable passage leading to another ready, eye-rolling anecdote. As such, the book's a bit like an old episode of "The Rockford Files": Roberts gets constantly tripped up, sidelined or denied, but we trust that somehow he'll still get his men -- or, at least, find their long lost shack. — Brad Wieners

Publishers Weekly

The author of Escape from Lucania uncovers an extraordinary tale, set in the mid-18th century, about four Russian hunters stranded on a desolate Arctic isle with scant resources, who survived for six years. Initially, Roberts is so preoccupied with debunking earlier histories of the shipwreck that the drama barely comes to life. He fumes at the shortcomings of other historians such as the "pomposities" and "basic mistakes" of the writer P.L. Le Roy. But these records give the author significant information as he embarks on his own Arctic journey in order to better understand his subjects. Luckily, few things can get in the way of a good story, and when Roberts manages to get out of his own way, he captures it with precise, thoughtful prose. With each discovery and every interview, he pieces together the mystery of how the four men actually survived. Whether detailing how these men fashioned clothing from animal hides, drank the warm blood of reindeer to prevent scurvy or crafted bows and arrows from "driftwood, polar bear tendons, flattened nails, and bird feathers," Roberts succeeds in creating an inspirational survival story. (Nov.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

AudioFile

The tale at the heart of this recording is one of the greatest feats of wilderness survival in history, though it's virtually unknown. In 1743, four Russian walrus hunters were stranded on Svalbard with two days' supplies and stayed alive for more than six years. Beginning with one unreliable source document, Roberts doggedly pursues every thread of the story in libraries, Russian archives, and on Svalbard itself, during a two-week visit. In the process, he becomes the story, padding it with self-absorbed detail but also with fascinating digressions. He's helped along by Robertson Dean's reading, which is well paced and keeps the narrative moving, even when it threatens to get stuck in the ice. D.B.
© AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews