SOURCE: "Where Men are the Men," in The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 201, No. 5, May, 1958, pp. 78, 80.

In the following mixed review, Weeks applauds the geographical and historical scope of Ice Palace, but contends that the believability of the characters and plot are compromised by Ferber's "theatricality."

In The Emma McChesney Stories, Edna Ferber staked out her claim as a delineator of American character; and in Show Boat she gave us one of the most appealing romances of the stage. Thereafter, in novels like Cimarron and Giant, she has written of the big operator, the limitless and often unscrupulous development of our natural resources, and the corrupting effect of power and wealth upon the individual. In Ice Palace she has moved her setting to Alaska, our last frontier, and again she is writing about big strapping men: Thor Storm and Czar Kennedy (the very names spell strength), Thor with his Norwegian...