“This book is the account of a personal experience — so personal that for four years I could not bring myself to write it. It is different from anything else I have ever written.”

—  Richard Evelyn Byrd

Preface
Alone (1938)
Context: This book is the account of a personal experience — so personal that for four years I could not bring myself to write it. It is different from anything else I have ever written. My other books have been factual, impersonal narratives of my expeditions and flights. This book, on the other hand, is the story of an experience which was in considerable part subjective. I very nearly died before it was over.

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Richard Evelyn Byrd21
Medal of Honor recipient and United States Navy officer 1888–1957

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