P.J. Capelotti's Books

The Greatest Show in the Arctic

The American Exploration of Franz Josef Land, 1898–1905

By: P. J. Capelotti

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Greatest Show in the Arctic

The American Exploration of Franz Josef Land, 1898–1905

By: P. J. Capelotti

In Gilded Age America, Arctic explorers were fabulous celebrities—assured of riches and near-immortality so long as they reached the North Pole first. Of the many attempts to meet that goal, three American expeditions, launched from the Russian archipelago of Franz Josef Land, ended in abject failure, their exploits consigned to near-oblivion. Even so, these ventures—the Wellman expedition (1898–99), the Baldwin-Ziegler (1901–2), and the Fiala-Ziegler (1903–5)—have much to tell us about the personalities, politics, and economics of exploration in their day. In The Greatest Show in the Arctic, the first book to chronicle all three expeditions, P. J. Capelotti explores what went right and what, in the end, went tragically wrong. The cast of colorful characters from the Franz Josef Land forays included Walter Wellman, a Chicago journalist and bon vivant running from debts, his mistress, and an illegitimate daughter; Evelyn Briggs Baldwin, a deranged meteorologist with a fetish for balloons and a passion for Swedish conserves; and Anthony Fiala, a pious photographer in search of God in the Arctic. Featuring an international cast of supporting characters worthy of a three-ring circus, The Greatest Show in the Arctic follows each of the three expeditions in turn, from spectacular feats of financing to their bitter ends. Along the way, the explorers accumulated considerable geographic knowledge and left a legacy of place-names. Through close study of the expeditions’ journals, Capelotti reveals that the Franz Josef Land endeavors foundered chiefly because of poor leadership and internal friction, not for lack of funding, as historians have previously suspected. Presenting tales of noble intentions, novel inventions, and epic miscalculations, The Greatest Show in the Arctic brings fresh life to a unique and underappreciated story of American exploration.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

649

Publisher

University of Oklahoma Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0806154462

ISBN 13

9780806154466

The Human Archaeology of Space

Lunar, Planetary and Interstellar Relics of Exploration

By: P.J. Capelotti

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Human Archaeology of Space

Lunar, Planetary and Interstellar Relics of Exploration

By: P.J. Capelotti

A catalog of archaeological artifacts that have been left behind in space as a result of human exploration, this work describes the remnants of lost satellites, discarded lunar rovers, depleted rockets, and various abandoned spacecraft. The book is divided into three parts covering distinct but interconnected issues of lunar, planetary, and interstellar archaeology. In Parts I and II, individual chapters cover each space mission and provide technical notes, and, in some cases, images of the artifacts. Part III explores the archaeology of mobile artifacts in the solar system and the wider galaxy, looking particularly at the problems encountered in attempting a traditional archaeological field survey of artifacts that may remain in motion indefinitely.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

201

Publisher

McFarland

Published Date

ISBN 10

0786459948

ISBN 13

9780786459940

Adventures in Archaeology

The Wreck of the Orca II and Other Explorations

By: P.J. Capelotti

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Adventures in Archaeology

The Wreck of the Orca II and Other Explorations

By: P.J. Capelotti

Remnants of the curious and peculiar ways humankind has marked the archaeological landscape are abundant but often ignored: wrecked aircraft, abandoned airfields, old highway billboards, derelict boats, movie props, and deserted mining operations. In this book, archaeologist P.J. Capelotti explores places and things that people do not typically think of as archaeological sites and artifacts, introducing readers to the most extreme fieldwork taking place today. Capelotti shows that even seemingly ordinary objects from the recent past hold secrets about the cultural history of humans. He investigates the site where a stunt copy of the Orca, the fishing boat used in the movie Jaws, was stripped to pieces by fans—a revelation of the ways humans relate to popular culture. He takes readers to abandoned base camps near the North Pole that are now used as destinations for Arctic tourism. Retelling the story of Thor Heyerdahl’s research expedition across the Pacific Ocean on a balsa log raft, Capelotti shows how experimental archaeology attempts to reveal cultural connections between continents. And he doesn’t stop at the limits of the planet. He discusses debris floating through outer space and equipment left behind on the surface of the moon, highlighting current efforts to preserve artifacts that exist beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. These discarded materials, says Capelotti, help archaeologists piece together the sweeping story of human cultural expansion and exploitation. He explains how the unusual sites of shorelines, sea, air, and space represent the farthest reaches of human civilization. His enthusiasm will inspire readers to set out on their own to investigate the secret meanings of treasures hiding in plain sight.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

235

Publisher

University Press of Florida

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813063612

ISBN 13

9780813063614

Nautilus: a modern sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

By: P.J. Capelotti

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Nautilus: a modern sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

By: P.J. Capelotti

In the summer of 2021, Norwegian explorer Bjorn Larsen and Italian archaeologist Paolo Serengetti are completing a wide-ranging archaeological survey along the north coast of the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard on board the research vessel Polar Quest. The objective of their expedition is to locate any surviving evidence of the disastrous 1928 Italia dirigible expedition to the North Pole. But instead of finding the lost airship in a remote fjord of the archipelago, they stumble instead upon a previously unknown shipwreck. As the identity of their discovery becomes apparent, so too does its magnitude: a submarine that appears to be the same Nautilus described by Jules Verne in the novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It soon becomes evident to Serengetti and Larsen that Verne's famous novel was not a dramatic imaginative science fiction story, but a fictionalized account of an undersea voyage that actually took place in 1867.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

319

Publisher

Lulu.com

Published Date

ISBN 10

0557064368

ISBN 13

9780557064366

Shipwreck at Cape Flora

The Expeditions of Benjamin Leigh Smith, England's Forgotten Arctic Explorer

By: P. J. Capelotti

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Shipwreck at Cape Flora

The Expeditions of Benjamin Leigh Smith, England's Forgotten Arctic Explorer

By: P. J. Capelotti

Benjamin Leigh Smith discovered and named dozens of islands in the Arctic but published no account of his pioneering explorations. He refused public accolades and sent stand-ins to deliver the results of his work to scientific societies. Yet, the Royal Geographic Society's Sir Clements R. Markham referred to him as a polar explorer of the first rank.Traveling to the Arctic islands that Leigh Smith explored and crisscrossing England to uncover unpublished journals, diaries, and photographs, archaeologist and writer P. J. Capelotti details Leigh Smith's five major Arctic expeditions and places them within the context of the great polar explorations in the nineteenth century

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

300

Published Date

ISBN 10

1552387127

ISBN 13

9781552387122

The Greatest Show in the Arctic

The American Exploration of Franz Josef Land, 1898–1905

By: P. J. Capelotti

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Greatest Show in the Arctic

The American Exploration of Franz Josef Land, 1898–1905

By: P. J. Capelotti

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

649

Publisher

University of Oklahoma Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0806154462

ISBN 13

9780806154466

Rogue Wave

The U. S. Coast Guard on and After 9/11

By: P. J. Capelotti,U. S. Coast Guard

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Rogue Wave

The U. S. Coast Guard on and After 9/11

By: P. J. Capelotti,U. S. Coast Guard

Reprint of book originally published by the Historian's Office of the United States Coast Guard in 2003. Includes maps and photographs in full color.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

224

Publisher

Military Bookshop

Published Date

ISBN 10

1782664661

ISBN 13

9781782664666

Book's by P.J. Capelotti

The Greatest Show in the Arctic

The Greatest Show in the Arctic

The Human Archaeology of Space

The Human Archaeology of Space

Adventures in Archaeology

Adventures in Archaeology

Nautilus: a modern sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Nautilus: a modern sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Shipwreck at Cape Flora

Shipwreck at Cape Flora

The Greatest Show in the Arctic

The Greatest Show in the Arctic

Rogue Wave

Rogue Wave

Username

Password

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email