Pole Antarctica: The Doomed 1905 Gabriel Expedition to the Bottom of the World

Captain Hugo Gabriel should be remembered as one of history's greatest explorers.

Instead, he's on trial for what may or may not be the worst expedition ever attempted.

In 1905, Gabriel set out to conquer Antarctica with a crew of questionable talent, zero preparation, and an unshakable belief in his own greatness. What followed was a catastrophic journey of infighting, hallucinations, exploding motorcars, a deeply unwise deal with a mad doctor about resurrection, and a fundamental misunderstanding of how exploration actually works.

They battled the cold. They battled each other. They battled reality itself.

They did not, notably, reach the South Pole.

Now, writing from a freezing London prison cell while an angry mob debates the best way to execute him, Gabriel finally tells his side of the story — a version of events that is bold, heroic, and almost certainly untrue.

Pole Antarctica is a razor-sharp, gleefully absurd satire about ego, delusion, and the fine line between ambition and complete stupidity, from David Guzman (The Onion, The New Yorker, McSweeney's, UCB Theatre). Told in Gabriel's own increasingly unreliable words — and interrupted by courtroom cross-examination that keeps calling his story into question — this is the tale of a man determined to make history, no matter how badly it goes.

Perfect for fans of dark comedy, disastrous-adventure stories, and unreliable narrators who dig their own grave one confident sentence at a time.