For six years, Cook made his living as an attraction on the Chautauqua,
lyceum,
and vaudeville circuits with illustrated talks on his polar attainment
and
his subsequent persecution at the hands of Peary’s Arctic
Trust.
His modest, open manner of speaking made him a popular success and won
the
sympathy of many people, particularly in the Midwest and Pacific
Northwest. In 1913 a third edition of his book saw a printing
of 60,000,  which gave him
the vehicle to put his story widely
before the court of public opinion. Through his lectures and
the pages
of his book he convinced many that he was, indeed, the discoverer of
the
North Pole and a very wronged man. |
