A nuclear sub's daring Cold War mission unfolds in "The Ice Diaries"
A Review by Chris Patsilelis

During the Cold War, science and technology became powerful weapons of intimidation between the United States and the Soviet Union, each side trying to outdo the other.

But with the launch on Oct. 4, 1957, of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to circle the Earth, the Soviet Union appeared to have bounded into the lead.

Enter 36-year-old former World War II submariner Capt. William R. Anderson, who, in June 1957, was given command of the world's first nuclear-powered sub, Nautilus. Unassuming and strictly by the book, Anderson harbored a nearly obsessive dream: to take this marvelous vessel on a voyage under the polar ice cap and emerge on the opposite side of the Arctic Ocean.

In one voyage the fabled Northwest Passage would finally be realized, opening endless new commercial possibilities. And, more important, it would establish a new line of defense against the Soviet Union.

Anderson (who died in 2007) and Don Keith, a 25-year broadcast veteran and author of 15...
 
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