The 'Roaring Twenties' they called it: a fun time to be alive. The birth of a brave new world. The jazz age of Fords, flappers, prohibition and bathtub gin. The movies, radio and consumerism have redefined the American dream; this is the dawn of our modern era. The machine is the future and supreme among machines is the aeroplane. The aeroplane — speed, glamour, communication — is the emblem of the Now. And a race is on to be the first to fly to the North Pole … a perilous feat at the extreme edge of technological possibility in the primitive aircraft of the day. The main contestant: Roald Amundsen, who trudged first to the South Pole fourteen years before but is now fifty-two, bankrupt and tarnished. His principal competitor: Richard Byrd, Annapolis graduate and well-connected Virginian swell. To be the first to achieve the Pole would mean glory to one's country, reward and worldwide fame. To fail, once in the air, would mean almost certain death.
