“A captivating book about that frozen continent, focusing on the scientific and support work that women do there….The text is smoothly presented with details and quotations blended into an informative narrative…crystal-clear photos with captions provide interesting glimpses of the women featured in the text and scenes of Antarctica.”

“In this astute look at female grit…Johnson…recounts how, for 150 years after men first set foot on it, Antarctica remained something of a “man’s world.” That changed in 1969, when the first female participants in the US Antarctic Program arrived on the continent. In full-color photographs and a text that offer ready glimpses of the drama involved in such basic concerns as remaining warm, readers meet Judy Coffman, helicopter pilot; Diane Stoecker, a biologist studying algae and protozoa in sea ice; Jennifer Moss, who tags seals; Fiona Hunter, who studies penguins and other seabirds; Nelia Dunbar, a volcanologist; Ellen Mosley-Thompson, an ice core paleoclimatologist; and others….readers will sense the pioneering spirit of all those attracted to this frozen white wilderness.”

“As in her earlier Science on Ice: An Antarctic Journal (1995), Johnson highlights a wide range of activities in progress on the southernmost continent….The author’s cinematic you-are-there style of reporting successfully engages readers in the drama of Antarctic life.”

“…Hand this one to the girls who love to question the rules and aren’t afraid to compete with the boys…”