In 1597, Dutch explorer William Barents and his crew of 15 set off into the Far Arctic, lost their ship to a crush of icebergs and, with few weapons and dwindling supplies, spent nine months contending with ravenous polar bears and endless winter. It is one of the great tales in the history of Arctic exploration, and here Andrea Pitzer tells the story of this navigator whose larger-than-life ambitions and obsessive quest ended in both catastrophe and glory.