Set in what feels like the Great Age of Exploration—the era of Shackleton, Perry, and Amundsen—EXPLORERS OF THE NEW CENTURY tells the story of two teams racing across a nameless frozen expanse, each seeking to be the first to reach the AFP, or Agreed Furthest Point (which might as well stand for the South Pole, or the top of Everest, or deepest cave). The AFP is worth reaching because it has been acknowledged as there. Accompanied by their suffering mules and driven by their determination to push themselves to the limits and beyond, each team proves its mettle. But the cost is high--each step strains their limited resources, each calculation becomes a matter of life and death. Magnus Mills, one of the great fabulists in the English language--a cross between Hemingway and Kafka--has taken the exploration story and given it a haunting twist. The great drama doesn't involve reaching the AFP, but in what we learn about the explorers along the way.