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.
