G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1935, 1st edition. 405 pages, Illustrated with photographs and maps, and an area map on the endpapers. The logical follow-up to Byrds book "Little America" (which is about his first Antarctic Expedition). Admiral Richard Byrd's second exploration of the South Pole, arriving by ship and then using an airplane, and dog sleds, and for the first time the Antarctic Ice Cap tapped by seismic soundings.
The Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition was covered as thoroughly in the media as the first but it was the radio programs, broadcast by the men from Little America which spilled into the living rooms of America, that sustained and encouraged American presence in the Antarctic during this expedition and the others that followed. A number of "firsts" were accomplished during the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition; it was the first time that automotive transportation proved to be a valuable asset.
Results from the first seismic investigations in Antarctica provided the initial evidence of the extent to which the Ross Ice Shelf was aground or afloat. The first human voices were transmitted from Little America on February 1, 1934 and later a weekly broadcast was carried over the Columbia Broadcasting System in the United States. Additionally, this expedition marked the first time that cosmic ray and meteor observations were taken in such high southern latitudes. Although the First Byrd Antarctic Expedition was the beginning of the mechanical age in Antarctica, the Second Expedition took mechanical and electrical resources to a new level. Very Good.
