CO, UCO, 1999, 1st edition. 428 pp, ills. Innocents on the Ice is based on the author's experience and writings as part of a U.S. Navysupported scientific expedition to establish Ellsworth Station on the Filchner Ice Shelf. This expedition, undertaken from November 1956 to early 1958, coincided with the International Geophysical Year (19571958) which initiated the "scientific age" in Antarctica.
Behrendt describes the stress of experiencing the dark Antarctic winter of 1957, during which intense personal conflicts arose at the most isolated of the seven U.S. Antarctic stations. The tension was unrelieved by contact with the outside world, since there was no mail for the 9 civilians and 30 Navy men living beneath the snow and only occasional radio contact was made with families for a year.
