With Byrd at the bottom of the world

Antarctica, the vast, frozen continent, eerily lit by a sun that never sets in the summer, plunged into months of darkness in the winter -- for Richard E. Byrd, exploring the land that had already taken the lives of many great adventurers was a challenge he could not resist. His 1928-1930 expedition was history in the making, and Norman Vaughan was there to see it happen. Brought on to handle the expedition's sled dogs, the young Vaughan was in for the adventure of a lifetime. Admiral Byrd and his men attracted worldwide attention with their accomplishments: the building of Little America, the first settlement on Antarctica; the discovery of Marie Byrd Land; an important survey of Antarctic geography and geology; and the historic first flight over the South Pole. For Vaughan, it all began one day in September 1927 with a newspaper headline that read, "Byrd to the South Pole." Vaughan persuaded Byrd to let him join the expedition by agreeing to work without pay to get Byrd's dogs ready for the trip to Antarctica. He spent a year training dogs, building cages and sleds, and assembling gear for a year on the ice. The voyage to Antarctica was itself an adventure. Vaughan worked with th