Empire at the Edge of the World

From internationally bestselling historian Giles Milton comes a gripping tale of exploration, survival, and geopolitical power in the Arctic Circle.

The year was 1913. Charismatic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson was obsessed with a frozen speck of land in the Siberian Arctic: Wrangel Island. Believing whoever possessed it would control the future of the Northern Hemisphere—its air routes, its resources, and the global balance of power—he took an impossible gamble.

Stefansson, born William Stephenson, had changed his name to sound more like the Viking forebears he idolized. Driven by a messianic zeal, he dispatched a small, ill-equipped venture to stake a colony in Britain’s name. It was a maneuver of brilliance, ego, and breathtaking hubris.

What followed was a catastrophe of starvation, madness, and geopolitical risk. As winter locked the island in ice and rescue ships failed to arrive, tensions among the colonists spiraled toward despair. While diplomats from Great Britain, America, Canada, and the Soviet Union sparred and warships were made ready, the settlers were left to endure scurvy, polar bears, and the slow terror of abandonment. At the center of this epic saga stood one unlikely survivor—a twenty-three-year-old Inuit seamstress named Ada Blackjack, who would outlast them all.

Empire at the Edge of the World is a sweeping and chilling tale of superhuman endurance, a man known as a visionary and trickster, and the human cost of his manic ambition. Bestselling author Giles Milton delivers a little-known slice of history perfect for readers interested in the great age of Arctic exploration. With the future of the Arctic once again up for grabs, it is also a story with the greatest possible relevance to today’s uncertain world.