Realm of Ice and Sky

Triumph, Tragedy, and History's Greatest Arctic Rescue

By: Buddy Levy

Narrated by: Will Damron

"Damron's subtle pacing manages the tension perfectly."—AudioFile on Empire of Ice and Stone

"Listen to this if you want to hear a narrator at the top of his game recount a fascinating—and at times disturbing—true story of adventure, disaster, discovery, cannibalism, and more. Will Damron makes Levy's fascinating account of the Greely (Polar) Expedition come to life"—AudioFile on Labyrinth of Ice

National Outdoor Book Award-winning author Buddy Levy's thrilling narrative of polar exploration via airship―and the men who sacrificed everything to make history.

Arctic explorer and American visionary Walter Wellman pioneered both polar and trans-Atlantic airship aviation, making history’s first attempts at each. Wellman has been cast as a self-promoting egomaniac known mostly for his catastrophic failures. Instead he was a courageous innovator who pushed the boundaries of polar exploration and paved the way for the ultimate conquest of the North Pole—which would be achieved not by dogsled or airplane, but by airship.

American explorer Dr. Frederick Cook was the first to claim he made it to the North Pole in 1908. A year later, so did American Robert Peary, but both Cook’s and Peary’s claims had been seriously questioned. There was enough doubt that Norwegian explorer extraordinaire Roald Amundsen—who’d made history and a name for himself by being first to sail through the Northwest Passage and first man to the South Pole—picked up where Walter Wellman left off, attempting to fly to the North Pole by airship. He would go in the Norge, designed by Italian aeronautical engineer Umberto Nobile. The 350-foot Norge flew over the North Pole on May 12, 1926, and Amundsen was able to accurately record and verify their exact location.

However, the engineer Nobile felt slighted by Amundsen. Two years later, Nobile returned, this time in the Italia, backed by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini. This was an Italian enterprise, and Nobile intended to win back the global accolades and reputation he believed Amundsen had stripped from him. The journey ended in disaster, death, and accusations of cannibalism, launching one of the great rescue operations the world had ever seen.

Realm of Ice and Sky is the riveting tale of the men who first flew the most advanced technological airships of their time to the top of the world, risking and even giving their lives for science, country, and polar immortality.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2025 Buddy Levy (P)2025 Macmillan Audio

Levy great as usual

The stories that Levy tells are so important so they are not lost in our high speed short attention span world.

Great historical story told well.

Very compelling story with three protagonists linked through a common obsession and goal. A comprehensive telling of the adventures, successes, and failures of these three explorers who used airships to reach the North Pole.

a great book, read by a good naratator

Buddy Levy, is probably one of the best historical naratators out there, you feel like you are right there side by side of the people on there journey, this book goes in to a lot of detail, any person interested in hystory but especially north pole hystory will enjoy this title

Interesting History of North Pole exploration

Another great history lesson for north pole explorers and airships. Worth reading or listening to.

Epic adventure, incredible courage.

Captivating, balanced and well narrated. We’ll written history of an under appreciated chapter of arctic exploration

Airships to the top of the world!

A very good fast paced and entertaining review of the adventurous first daring flights to the North pole by airships.