Amazon.com
On December 14, 1911, the classical age of polar exploration ended when Norway's Roald Amundsen conquered the South Pole. His competitor for the prize, Britain's Robert Scott, arrived one month later--but died on the return with four of his men only 11 miles from their next cache of supplies. But it was Scott, ironically, who became the legend, Britain's heroic failure, "a monument to sheer ambition and bull-headed persistence. His achievement was to perpetuate the romantic myth of the explorer as martyr, and ... to glorify suffering and self-sacrifice as ends in themselves." The world promptly forgot about Amundsen.
Biographer Ronald Huntford's attempt to restore Amundsen to glory, first published in 1979 under the title Scott and Amundsen, has been thawed as part of the Modern Library Exploration series, captained by Jon Krakauer (of Into Thin Air fame). The Last Place on Earth is a complex and fascinating account of the race for this last great terrestrial goal, and it's pointedly geared toward demythologizing Scott. Though this was the age of the amateur explorer, Amundsen was a professional: he left little to chance, apprenticed with Eskimos, and obsessed over every detail. While Scott clung fast to the British rule of "No skis, no dogs," Amundsen understood that both were vital to survival, and they clearly won him the Pole.
Amundsen in Huntford's view is the "last great Viking" and Scott his bungling opposite: "stupid ... recklessly incompetent," and irresponsible in the extreme--failings that cost him and his teammates their lives. Yet for all of Scott's real or exaggerated faults, he understood far better than Amundsen the power of a well-crafted sentence. Scott's diaries were recovered and widely published, and if the world insisted on lionizing Scott, it was partly because he told a better story. Huntford's bias aside, it's clear that both Scott and Amundsen were valiant and deeply flawed. "Scott ... had set out to be an heroic example. Amundsen merely wanted to be first at the pole. Both had their prayers answered." --Svenja Soldovieri
Customer Reviews:
A Ripping Good Yarn.......2007-02-20
I saw a program on PBS about Amundsen and the Northwest Passage and decided I wanted to know more so I bought this book. Much has already been said and thus doesn't need repeating. If you hold to the hero status of Scott then you are apt to be severely disappointed. He does NOT fair well in the cold light of history. Amundsen comes across as someone who was at the peak of his game and was just better at this sort of thing.
One of the best books I've read in a LONG time. Well worth the time spent.
Read the notes at the end of the book!.......2007-02-18
There are simply too many errors in this book to state here. I can only suggest that the reader look at the notes at the end of the book. Huntford derives almost all of his negative comments from two or three people on Scott's expeditions. Why are so few of the comments collected from hundreds of men who loved and supported Scott. I'd hate to have my life judged before the world by the few people I've pissed off out of the many I've known. And just a note in passing---the Markham diary or jornal he keeps referring to? It's not a diary or journal; it is a collection of notes made by a very old Markham years after he encountered Scott on the street (prior to appointing Scott as leader on the first expedition).
Scott certainly made some serious judgement errors and prevaricated occassionally, but Huntford lies on almost every page of his book by omission and deception.
I have no complaints about his description of Amundsen; Amundsen was the better of the two explorers. In fact, Amundson was arguably the greatest of all polar explorers in the heroc age. Some of the best polar explorers appear almost amateurish by comparison.
The Last Place On Earth.......2007-01-12
For those who like to read history, this is very well researched.
Well researched, penetrating, a tad biased.......2006-12-07
I've finished reading both this and Fiennes "Race to the Pole". Huntford clearly spent an enormous amount of time digging through many expedition diaries and personal letter archives. He simply doesn't just quote them, but knits them together in a fine tapestry of interrelated decisions and events. This provides keen insights into the importance of planning, preparation, and attention to detail during operations.
Huntford carefully walks the reader through how Amundsen clearly understood the difficulties ahead of him, while Scott was content to draw hasty conclusions based on faulty testing, prejudice, and unwarranted opinions of the uninformed. Huntford also details the subtle and not-so-subtle difference in the leadership styles of both men, one who built a consensus, and the other who promulgated orders without allowing discussion or feedback.
My only complaints are 1) Huntford descended into the use of terms such as "weak, incompetent, and stupid" for Scott, which was unnecessary and detracted slightly from the rest of his scholarship, and 2) he avoided the use of much of the material that would have reflected positively on Scott, as found in Fiennes book, which is why I only gave this 4 stars.
The last book on earth...twisted facts, and damn lies .......2006-08-10
The central theme of this book, (i.e that Captain Scott was a blundering idiot) has been exposed as nonsense by a series of recent and well balanced books written by expolorers such as Ranulph Fiennes and Antarctic researchers such as Susan Solomon, rather than amateur critics. Read "The Worst journey in the World" if you want a proper account of the Terra Nova expedition. But if you really must buy "The Last Place on Earth" then also read Antarctic explorer Ranulph Fiennes "Captain Scott" which exposes it as a lie.
Book Description
A richly illuminating biography of Robert Falcon Scott, and the first to transcend the myths that have taken root in the story of his life.
Since Scott’s death in 1912, he has been the subject of innumerable books—some declaring him a hero, others dismissing him as an irresponsible fool. But in all the pages that have been written about him, the man behind the legend has been forgotten or distorted beyond all recognition. Now, with full access to all family papers and to the voluminous diaries and records of key participants in the Antarctic expeditions, and with the inclusion in the book of excerpts from Scott’s own letters and diaries, David Crane gives us a portrait of the explorer that is more nuanced and balanced than any we have had before. In reassessing Scott’s life, Crane is able to provide a fresh perspective on both the Discovery expedition of 1901–04 and the Terra Nova expedition of 1910–13, making clear that although Scott’s dramatic journeys are the most compelling parts of his story, they are only part of a larger narrative that includes remarkable scientific achievement and the challenges of a tumultuous private life.
Scott’s own voice echoes through the pages. His descriptions of the monumental landscape of Antarctica and its fatal and icy beauty are breathtaking. And his honest, heartfelt letters and diaries give the reader an unforgettable account of the challenges he faced both in his personal life and as a superlative leader of men in possibly the world’s harshest environment.
The result is an absolutely convincing portrait of a complicated hero.
Customer Reviews:
Captains Courageous.......2007-07-16
David Crane shows how the death of the explorer Captain Scott galvanized the UK on the edge of World War I, but he qualifies British response to the tragedy by pointing up that, despite the weight of popular opinion, the pre-war Edwardian years were not exactly the Golden Age of empire the way they are nowadays painted. Crane's life of Scott is in every way a re-revisionist biography, kicking against what he feels has been the unfair denigration of Scott's life and deeds over the past thirty years.
Sometimes this approach works, sometimes it doesn't. Through meticulous handling of evidence, he tells the story without a hint of strain, and yet sometimes whole paragraphs stop the action to argue that history has shafted Scott once again. A prototypical Englishman in the days when "God was an Englishman," Scott has suffered from unthinking backlhas, or so says Crane, and indeed he says it about four hundred times so that, frankly, I began to sympathize with Scott's attackers a bit, for no one's that perfect.
Indeed Crane admits as much, citing his rivalry with Shackleton and then finally with Amundsen as proof, but in each case, the other man is deeply at fault and Scott was just trying to muddle through on Naval smarts and years of experience leading men. It was a time for heroics, and something in the air (together with a thriving media culture) made heroes out of the most unlikely souls. England expected every man to do his duty, and alas so did Norway and Amundsen came home with the gold, so to speak, whereas the Englishmen after the same glittering prize were all dead by the time Amundsen returned home. "The Englishmen, the goal accompished," bleated the press, "lay quiet in the snows. Through the months since . . . while wives and friends set forth for meetings and counted time, they lay oblivious. All was over for them long ago."
Beyond the heroics of the era, Crane attributes the legend of Captain Scott to his indispitable skill as a prose writer. There is something macabre about the veneration given to his last journal, found by the relief party, but it's a bizarre twist totally understandable in the context, the words that live on after the hand that wrote them has grown cold and still. Without that last journal, its reinscription of subaltern heroics, its narrative of deprivation and memory and love, how else would Scott be remembered? In this regard Crane has an interesting passage about the way in which Westminster Abbey had its own little competition going on with St. Paul's Cathedral about which site had the most pomp and had the most heroes of empire commemmorated there.
Scoot of the Antartic, A life of courage.......2007-03-21
The book is dreadful. It continually refers to other expeditions that the average reader will not know about. The writing is random and its impossible to follow the thread. There are also many deliberate and irrelevant literary references just inserted to be clever. A great subject that I w\as looking forward to, treated very badly by a pseudo intellectual. Try as I might I could not finish it.
An Admiring View of a Complex Man.......2007-02-20
I particularily like the subtitle to this book, 'a life of courage and tragedy.'
Scott was undoubtedly courageous. He could not have been otherwise. On the other hand, his courage and drive to get to the South Pole was not exactly balanced by experience or perhaps by common sense. There's an old saying that if you wanted to get somewhere like the South Pole, Scott would have been a good leader to follow, but if you wanted to get back, then other expedition leaders like Shackleton would be your first choice. Shackleton's quotation: 'Better a live donkey than a dead lion.' Consistent with this, Scott got to the South Pole, Shackleton didn't. Scott didn't get back.
In this book, the author is clearly a deep admirer of Scott. And indeed he did great things. Coming from a humble beginning he appeared driven to accomplish things, and he did. He was a complicated man, and Mr. Crane's access to the family papers and Scott's letters give a view that is perhaps more balanced than what we have seen before.
If nothing else, Mr. Crane is an excellent writer and the story becomes one of those can't put down books.
A brilliant book.......2007-01-22
The history of Arctic exploration is not a subject I've ever had a particular interest in. I picked this book up more or less by chance, was intrigued enough to buy it ... and haven't been able to put it down. The story itself is absolutely gripping from beginning to end, but it's the intelligence and skill of the writing that makes this such a memorable and remarkable book. Wonderful. Six stars.
Book Description
The Worst Journey in the World recounts Robert Falcon ScottÂ's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole. Apsley Cherry-Garrard—the youngest member of ScottÂ's team and one of three men to make and survive the notorious Winter Journey—draws on his firsthand experiences as well as the diaries of his compatriots to create a stirring and detailed account of ScottÂ's legendary expedition. Cherry himself would be among the search party that discovered the corpses of Scott and his men, who had long since perished from starvation and brutal cold. It is through CherryÂ's insightful narrative and keen descriptions that Scott and the other members of the expedition are fully memorialized.
Customer Reviews:
One of the Best!.......2006-12-27
This book is the author's account of his own journey to find the Emperor penguins nesting grounds in the Antarctic winter, set into the context of Scott's final journey to the South Pole.
As should any really good book, it opened doors to new learning, as it informed about a subject about which I previously knew little, with interest level to match.
What struck me most is reading about unusual Antarctic ice melt conditons nearly 100 years ago, when human-induced 'global warming' could not have been an issue, at least so far as vehicle (and aircraft) pollution is concerned. I could be wrong, of course, but I began to see a bigger picture. That global warming is real and that polluting is bad are givens; that we can do much about the former is likely a conceit.
Also fascinating were the accounts of the nature of killer whales: Prior to this, I had assumed all killer whales were the loveable scamps shown in marine theme parks. Now? I give them a wide berth.
Apsley-Garrard's high regard for his fellow explorers and his gift for description make this book a joy to read. I only wish the editor/publisher had included (preferably inside the front or back cover) a proper map or graphic listing the place names mentioned in the text. The reader has to keep guessing, flipping or seeking out another map source to follow the journeys.
National Geographic ranks this book first on its list of the 100 greatest adventure books of all time. Also, see the DVD March of the Penguins, for the excellent 53-minute film on the making of the movie. This will give some idea of current challenges on a Winter Journey.
An Adventure book Inside a History Book.......2006-04-07
In 1911-1912 the author as a young man was part of the ill fated
Robert Falcon Scott British Expedition to be the "first" at the South Pole. The larger history of that effort's limited success and the stories of the lives lost is a well told as historical fact. Within the book lies the Chapter about the author's effort with two other companions to travel in a winter journey for the purpose of observing Emperor penguins in their nesting rookeries. This is the coldest journey "on record" with howling winds at -70 degrees f under total darkness climbing between open crevasses that were endlessly deep to retrieve a few unhatched eggs for scientific research. Once you've read this author's rendition of that "worst journey" no other adventure travelog can compare. Good reading and most unforgettable.
Amazon.com
The icy deaths of Robert Falcon Scott and his companions on their return from the South Pole in 1912 made them English icons of courage and sacrifice. Soon, however, Scott's judgments and decisions were questioned, and his reputation became one of inept bungler rather than heroic pioneer. Susan Solomon, senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Colorado, approaches Scott's story from a meteorologist's point of view. She shows that the three weeks from February 27 to March 19, during which the explorers fell further and further behind the daily distances they had to cover in order to survive, were far colder than normal. Unusual blizzards of wet snow had already slowed the party and depleted their provisions and strength. Without these once-in-a-decade phenomena, Solomon believes the party would have returned to its base on the Ross Sea--second after Roald Amundsen in the race to the Pole, but safely. She opens each chapter with comments from a hypothetical modern visitor to Antarctica, presumably to give a wider context to the human drama of the last century, though this reviewer finds them inappropriate. She enriches her narratives of Scott's two Antarctic expeditions with vintage photographs and tables of meteorological data that highlight the explorers' achievements. Their determination was pitted against the worst weather in the world. Scott's story has been told many times before, but its weather information makes The Coldest March a useful addition to the literature. --John Stevenson
Book Description
"Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale."--R. Scott, written after traveling for weeks of daily temperatures below minus 35 F. This riveting book tells the tragic story of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his British team who in November 1911 began a trek across the snows of Antarctica, striving to be the first to reach the South Pole. After marching and skiing more than nine hundred miles, the men reached the Pole in January 1912, only to suffer the terrible realization that a group of five Norwegians had been there almost a month earlier. On their return journey, Scott and his four companions perished, and their legacy--as courageous heroes or tragic incompetents--has been debated ever since. Susan Solomon brings a scientific perspective to understanding the men of the expedition, their staggering struggle, and the reasons for their deaths. Drawing on extensive meteorological data and on her own personal knowledge of the Antarctic, she depicts in detail the sights, sounds, legends, and ferocious weather of this singular place. And she reaches the startling conclusion that Scott's polar party was struck down by exceptionally frigid weather--a rare misfortune that thwarted the men's meticulous predictions of what to expect. Solomon describes the many adventures and challenges faced by Scott and his men on their journey, and she also discusses each one's life, contributions, and death. Her poignant and beautifully written book restores them to the place of honor they deserve.
Customer Reviews:
Focus on weather doesn't tell the whole story.......2007-02-12
I've read several books on this subject. This one doesn't add quite enough.
What's important to note is that Scott's expedition was not considered a failure at the time. His primary goal, unlike Amundsen, was to gather scientific data, not reach the pole first. Amundsen traveled fast and light; Scott put scientific discovery first. Among other achievements, the rock fossils his men gathered later contributed to proving plate tectonics.
While Solomon's weather information is fascinating, the book "Captain Scott" by Ranulph Fiennes covers absolutely everything that was a factor, including the hellish weather. Fiennes even crossed the Antarctic using Scott's methods.
Fiennes was moved to undertake his dangerous mission by "The Last Place on Earth," which he viewed as a slander of Scott's achievements. A British court agreed; the author of "The Last Place on Earth" was ordered to pay damages to Scott's son.
Fiennes gives detailed background on all of Scott's decisions, including what is seen as one of his greatest errors, using ponies instead of dogs.
Although the book "The Last Place on Earth" was found to be slander, the drama by the same name, available on DVD, is a fine piece of film making with excellent performances. Don't take it as gospel, though.
Cold, yes, but..........2006-03-23
Solomon's is a well-written book that begs the question: How many ways are there to say that it is cold in winter at Antarctica?
Solomon builds a molehill of meteorological data that pales in comparison to mountains of other evidence. Scott's lack of provisions, inadequate marking of depots, splitting of teams, depoting of ski and evaporation of stored fuel are not the only problems with his journey.
Scott apologists lay the journey's failure and death of the party on the bad weather encountered at the end. They fail to note that 2 companions had already died by the last encampment and the last (Evans) party barely made it back 3 weeks earlier (for the same reasons listed above).
The sheer fact of the matter is, that on a journey of over FOUR MONTHS, Scott had barely FOUR DAYS of extra rations for a job requiring 5000 calories per man per day.
A 3% margin of error in the coldest, windiest, least hospitable corner of the globe is hoping on more than luck...
This is not the place to take chances.......2006-02-12
Susan Solomon's book on the ill-fated Scott expedition of 1911-1912 tries to refute the Scott bashing in Roland Huntford's superior book, "The Last Place on Earth." Huntford carefully explains why the lesser-known Amundsen deserves praise while Scott pretty much kills himself. Solomon describes Scott as a "bumbler"- someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence. But her title and thesis is- it was the weather's fault. Inspector Clouseau was a bumbler. Scott's "preparation and leadership" cost him and all his men their lives.
The best part of Solomon's book is her make-believe Antarctic visitor. One evening he watches the television serial "The Last Place on Earth" based on Huntford's book. She even quotes from it, "Any man who sits in his tent in the Antarctic and whines about the weather is not fit to lead." She then explains it was very cold. She should have kept quoting the film because it has many great quotes she didn't use; allow me to recite just a few. "Men die; cattle die; I thyself shall die; one thing I know shall never die- Judgment over the Dead". Hello Susan.
In Scott's group, Meares says, "I took a trip across Siberia a journey of 2,000 miles, taught me many things, but chiefly I learned the narrowness of the line that man walks in nature between farce and tragedy, a lesson the Norwegians have learned on sea, on ice and mountain; it is a lesson Scott and his kind will never learn." I don't know if Mr. Meares said this but his case is stronger than Solomon's.
Finally, the most eloquent for last. Amundsen warns his men to lay out markers an additional 2 miles in both directions of a depot. "Two miles?" they ask. "Yes" replies Amundsen, "This is not the place to take chances."
If Susan Solomon wants to blame the weather, okay, but perhaps she has been breathing the ozone too long.
An unforgiving land.......2005-10-17
Primarily a scientific investigation and a good one at that, with the human interest aspect secondary but significant. Solomon is very informative. Being in the Antartic may mean not just reckoning with the cold but also with low humidiity and high elevation. What being severely frostbitten is like. Considerations of what to bring on an Antartic expedition. The impact on bodies and minds as the temperature drops lower and lower.
Diary fragments are used heavily to reveal what Scott and his team were thinking. Solomon's tone is more descriptive than dramatic. One page the team has reached the South Pole and not many pages later, with little buildup, they are dead. Much of the human interest comes from Solomon's speculations after that as to why the team died as they did.
For a polar story told with less science but more drama, try also "Mawson's Will" by Leonard Bickel. They complement each other well. That Mawson, alone of his team, escaped the fate of Scott and his team is incredible. The PBS video based on "The Coldest March", an episode of the "Secrets of the Dead" series entititled "Tragedy at the Pole" is excellent.
"The worst weather in the world".......2005-07-17
The Coldest March (referring to the month as well as the verb) is about British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his team of explorers and scientists who raced a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen to the South Pole in 1911-12. Amundsen was the first ever to reach the Pole. Scott and four of his crew (hand-chosen by Scott) reached the Pole a month later. Amundsen's team made it back but Scott's did not. Many books and reports have been written since trying to explain why Scott failed to return. Many critics site several bad decisions on the part of Scott leading to the legend that he was a bumbler. Scott kept a journal right to the end and sometimes his self-effacing entries fueled the criticism.
Susan Solomon may seem to have an agenda. Throughout the book, Solomon attempts to defend many of Scott's decisions and actions. She has tremendous expertise in the subject. Solomon studied the Ozone layer in the Antarctic. She is a senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado. When considering the legend of Scott, Solomon admits that she assumed the Brit explorer foolishly disregarded the power of Mother Nature until she studied the data and diaries left by Scott and his crew (xvii). While Solomon often defends Scott against highly critical historical accounts like Huntford's The Last Place on Earth, she is no apologist. She also points out Scott's errors and baffling decisions.
At the beginning of each chapter, Solomon includes part of the experiences of a modern-day Antarctic visitor. This visitor is not a specific person but a conglomeration of typical visitors. At first I was confused as, while reading about this modern experience, the story would shift gears to 1911-12. Soon, I figured out the pattern. The modern stories are at the beginning of each chapter (only about 2-3 pages each) and are in bold print. These stories are able to demonstrate clearly the issues or problems surrounding the Scott legend: i.e. comparing the huge stock of frozen vegetables at the warehouse there today and the comfortable living conditions against what Scott and his him men faced (pp. 71-2), the importance of drinking plenty of water in higher elevations versus the meager cups of tea Scott and company could drink each day with the scarce fuel they had, (p. 209), how much a visitor suffers in just a short period in extreme conditions (p. 286), etc. These stories, especially one explaining the need to risk snowblindness to better see crevasses (p. 183) helped me, as a reader who will never experience anything remotely close to the Antarctic, better understand the issues people face there.
Solomon clearly refutes points of criticism of Scott: i.e. that his men suffered from scurvy because they refused to eat seal meat or their ponies (pp. 3, 176), that the final five men who journeyed to the Pole did not have enough to eat because they only prepared food for four (p. 213), etc. She does point out Scott's weaknesses and mistakes. For example, he put too much faith in the opinions of some of his men (p. 86) and, even more importantly, he planned by the margins, putting too much stock in past experiences and not preparing for the possibility of worse case scenarios as did Amundsen. The inferior sleeping bags and faulty fuel cans were significant problems stemming from a lack of proper testing and preparation. Solomon is no sycophant and makes a fair assessment based on Scott's and his men's diaries and other primary sources.
What makes this work a fresh approach is the information on weather conditions taken from stations set up near Scott's path. They provided data for several decades demonstrating that the conditions Scott faced during the last month of their lives (March 1912) were extremely rare and perhaps unprecedented. What is puzzling is Solomon's conclusions which are contradictory. She discusses the rarity of the blizzard they faced in March 1912 and then shifts to explain that a 10-day blizzard noted in Scott's diary probably did not occur and that the men stayed in their tent for other reasons; one possibly being Scott's frost-bitten foot. Then, out-of-the-blue, Solomon mentions a suicide plan Scott wrote in his diary on March 11 involving opium tablets (p. 322). They decided not to take them but it seems odd to only mention such an entry briefly towards the end of the book. They probably lived another 18 or more days. Her confusing and inconclusive ending is the only criticism I have of this well-written and fascinating book. It is extremely well-researched and, on a historical level, offers fresh ideas and approaches. She also discusses the men on Scott's team (Edward Wilson, Lawrence Oates, Henry Bowers, Edgar Evans, Lt. Edward Evans, Apsely Cherry-Garrard, etc.) describing some of their backgrounds, characters, and personalities which added a lot to the human side of the story.
Average customer rating:
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Destination, Antarctica
Robert Swan
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc
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Book Description
'For God's sake look after our people' Captain Scott's harrowing account of his expedition to the South Pole in 1910-12 was first published in 1913. In his journals Scott records his party's optimistic departure from New Zealand, the hazardous voyage of theTerra Nova to Antarctica, and the trek with ponies and dogs across the ice to the Pole. On the way the explorers conduct scientific experiments, collect specimens, and get to know each other's characters. Their discovery that Amundsen has beaten them to their goal, and the endurance with which they face an 850-mile march to safety, have become the stuff of legend. This new edition publishes for the first time a complete list of the changes made to Scott's original text before publication. In his Introduction Max Jones illuminates the Journals' writing and publication, Scott's changing reputation, and the continued attraction of heroes in our cynical age.
Customer Reviews:
Tragedy's hubris.......2004-09-10
Bainbridge's hair-raising fictionalized account of Captain Robert Scott's doomed1912 venture to the South Pole begins with the glory and giddiness of their send off and ends with disappointment and slow death. Five men reached the pole and Bainbridge chooses these five to narrate, in turn, a section of their journey - during which each has a birthday, his last.
Taff Evans, the only non-officer, opens the book with his account of drunken parties and celebrity treatment. His hero-worship of Scott and glory tales of previous adventures contrasts with the bitter fears of a wife chary of being left destitute with children in a grimy slum. Taff is gritty and honest, roaring with life and humor.
Too bad Bainbridge's officers didn't have a little more of that rough and ready ebullience. Subsequent narratives - of the ocean crossing, setting up advance camps, scientific side trips, the numerous setbacks, disasters, equipment failures and human endurance - are all told by men with stiff upper lips.
Their idea of rousing good fun is a drunken scrimmage which ends with them all half naked. They avoid coming to terms with poor preparation and the disastrous equipment choices by blaming bad luck and admiring each other's bravery and fortitude in the face of each new disaster.
Bainbridge is a marvelous writer who brings the horrifics of cold and inadequate preparation vividly to life. Her point is to show the human waste engendered by the British code of honor and this she does. Yet, because of Capt. Scott's voluminous notes, recovered after his death, this is a story that's been often told. Nothing beats the nonfiction version for sheer excitement and heart break.
facinating, if not factual.......2004-07-17
I would give this book infinite stars when it comes to storytelling, but only one or two when it comes to facts. That aside, this is a great book, humourous, witty, and insightful. This book gives one itimate knowlage of the characters, which is rarely accomplished by other books of this genre. I very much enjoyed the first chapter, narrated by Taff Evans, finding it very well writen and in character. What I liked most about this story was its sense of voice. As the author swiched between characters, the reader recieved an excellent retelling of the facts from one of five very different points of view. Ultimately a very fulfilling read.
What Antarctica must have felt like..........2003-09-24
Bainbridge does a fine job dramatizing the deaths of the five doomed members of Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic Polar Expedition, in five separate chapters, each written in the voice of a different one of the five men. Bainbridge is obviously well-versed in the details of the true story, and the book hews closely to the facts of the case.
She's at her best in articulating the sort of self-absorbed England-forever attitude of the officers, but her depiction of ordinary seaman Edgar "Taff" Evans falls short; he speaks with almost the same Oxbridge vocabulary as his captain.
Despite this weaker one-fifth of the book, the book overall is quite appealing in the way it conveys a strong sense of the physical place, Antarctica. You can just imagine the sharp intake of frozen air into your lungs as you fall down a crevasse to the end of your harness, waiting for your companions to pull you back to safety.
Bainbridge should win the Booker Prize.......2003-04-27
Her prose is economical and expressive to the point that other talented writers now strike me as using too many words. What's more, Bainbridge's imagination is stunning. Although I understood that I was reading a 'fictional' account of the failed Scott expedition, I kept finding myself thinking that I was there, witnessing what happened, peering over a shoulder as someone wrote in his journal...(!) She's that good. I'm a historian, and I find B's imagined re-creation of what happened on the Scott expedition (which is based on her expert command of the historical sources) completely convincing, and powerfully moving. What a genius!
Bravo, Bainbridge.
More of the Brilliant Beryl.......2003-02-11
This woman is one of my favorite writers. I have just finished her "Watson's Apology" and found it wonderful as well. But I always use a caveat with Ms. Bainbridge, as I do with Ian McEwan: she is an acquired taste. "The Birthday Boys" is no exception to the rule.
To begin with, as with many of Ms. Bainbridge's novels, this is based on true events. In this case the ill-fated Robert Falcon Scott expedition to the South Pole in 1912. Scott and four of his crew died on their way back from the Pole itself which had already been reached by the intrepid Roald Amundsen two weeks prior. What Bainbriddge does is invite herself and us into the minds of the five men who died, and each of the interior glimpses and monologues takes place on the event of each one's own birthday, and reviews various aspects of his life including how he is feeling that day. Scott, who died last we must suppose, is saved for last.
It is a bold and marvelous literary concoction of fact, fantasy, and intellectual probing coupled with an almost uncanny peek into the hearts and minds of the men who cannot, of course, be interviewed and what they truly thought can never be truly known. Yet I have accepted these portraits as actual "interviews." Each of the men is given a full literary treatment, a complete characterization. It takes a lot of courage to do what Bainbridge does (she does it in "Watson's Apology" as well): she tells us things she cannot possibly know for sure and leaves it at that. Many people try to do that today, they pretend they are writing history when in fact, they are writing fantasy. Bainbridge doesn't pretend to be doing anything but writing about people and what she thinks or imagines they might have been thinking at any one time. She is the best at this conceit that I have ever read.
I had the advantage of already having read Cherry-Garrard's rather lengthy tomb: The Worst Journey In The World, so I was aware of the characters, of who they really were and what their various jobs were. That may or may not be essential. I will have to let the reader figure that out. They may stand on their own as literary concoctions, fanciful imaginaries floating at the margins of consciousness, or, as in my own case, rock-solid portrayals of real people I had already read about extensively.
She's a bold writer, and, I think, it might require a bold reader to take this on. But it's wonderful if you just go with it and accept what's there.
Four Stars from me is the same as Five Stars. I always save that fifth star for something I have yet to see. So consider this a Big Pick from yours truly.
Amazon.com
British explorer Robert F. Scott spent three years exploring the Antarctic, returning to England a hero in 1904. His ambition was to be the first man to reach the South Pole, and he overcame innumerable obstacles to assemble another expedition, which left in 1910. Scott and three of his men did reach the pole, only to discover that Norwegian Roald Amundsen had been there only five weeks earlier. Slightly more than two months later, Scott and his companions died in their tents, their bodies--and Scott's diaries--found eight months later by a search party. This account of Scott, having followed the explorer from childhood through his naval training and marriage, gives us at the end not only a national symbol but a fully developed tragic hero. Diana Preston commendably ventures beyond the longstanding myth, including material that shows how Scott's decisions and faulty judgements ultimately sealed his fate.
Book Description
On November 12, 1912, a rescue team trekking across Antarctica's Great Ice Barrier finally found what they sought -- the snow-covered tent of the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott. Inside, they made a grim discovery: Scott's frozen body lay between those of two fellow explorers. They had died just eleven miles from the depot of supplies that might have saved them. The remaining two members of the party were nowhere in sight, but Scott's eloquent diary revealed their nightmarishly similar fate. It is a story that continues to haunt the popular imagination, and which has never been told more grippingly or with greater compassion than in this book.
Customer Reviews:
a second rate book.......2006-01-01
The entire thesis of the book is that Scott's fate was a darn good attempt, despite the result. Unfortunately, Ms. Preston's arguments fall flat. By the end, the reader has but no choice but to deem the mission a failure on a grand scale through Scott's incompetence more than anything else.
Ms. Preston's failed arguments have been summed up by other reviewers well, so I won't rehash all of them, but I will add this. One of the aruguments she tries to use that Scott was a product of his time and that his actions, such as the pseudo-scientific mission, were reasonable given the times. However, she then also tries to justify certain actions, such as man-hauling , by stating that this is now fashionable with modern adventurers. Well, you can't rightly defend him both in and out of historical context. It's cherry picking and it's scholarly dishonest.
Ok, given my criticisms above why then did I give it even two stars. Well, it was fairly well written in the story-telling sense, if not logic. I also think it provided a good look into the British colonial mindset, which Ms. Preston still clings to in a lovely wigged-Parliamentarian manner. So while the thesis of the book is laughable, the book does provide some good, if unintended, entertainment. In other words, I finished it.
Good account of the South Pole expedition.......2005-02-15
Diana Preston was written a concise, good book about Robert Falcon Scott who led a 1910-1913 expedition that reached the South Pole. Scott and his four companions died on the return from the Pole, but left journals that told of their ardous journey right up to the end. Scott lost the race to the Pole to Norwegian explorer Raoud Amundson who beat him by a month but in death Scott became a great English hero nevertheless.
Preston's book is not as good as two others about the expedition. Apsley Cherry-Garrard was with Scott for the expedition, but did not accompany Scott to the Pole. His account, "The Worst Journey in the World" is a classic of travel adventure. Roland Huntford's, "The Last Place on Earth" is a blistering attack on Scott's competence and character along with a favorable account of Amundson.
Was Scott incompetent? Well, Amundson made the 1400 mile plus trek to the Pole and back from his base camp in 99 days, averaging about 15 miles per day. Scott averaged less than 10 miles a day, the short Antarctic summer ended, the weather got worse, and he and his companions died. Amundson made good use of skis and dogs; Scott relied on man-hauling his supplies. The British apparently loved Scott in death because of his amateurism, rather than in spite of it. A timely and tragic death can be enhancing to one's reputation.
Preston is generous with Scott and tells a touching story of Scott's relationship with his ambitious and independent wife.
Smallchief
Scott as Tragic Hero.......2003-01-22
Books on North Polar exploration seem to take a pro-Peary or pro-Cook slant. Even the National Geographic Society pushes Peary's claim, because it also helped fund his expedition. So when a book like Bryce's COOK AND PEARY comes out, saying what many of us believed all along, that both men were unscrupulous liars and neither deserve polar priority, it's a breath of fresh air on the subject. Nevertheless, Bryce also tempers this conclusion by saying both men were skilled in extreme conditions and remarkable real achievements below their belts before they started lying on a big scale and claiming for themselves what they had not achieved. Bryce tries in a valiant book to put an end to the nonsense that if Cook failed, Peary won, and vice-versa.
Books on South Polar exploration must be different. Amundsen reached the pole. It's indisputable. Scott died bringing back the proof that he didn't get priority. Because he reached the pole and -- to the anti-Scotteans, more importantly -- he got back. However, Scott's expedition was not a failure. It was, first and foremost, a scientific expedition; Scott wanted polar priority and probably deserved it (Amundsen wanted the north, denied him by the charlatans Cook and Peary, so he jumped Scott's claim).
Scott's reputation, unlike Amundsen's, has undergone a roller coaster ride for almost a century. First he was made a hero. Then the iconoclasts set in. Roland Huntford's book on Scott and Amundsen was the Big Nail for the anti-Scott forces. To them, Huntford's book is gospel, and to question it is to question reality.
But Huntford, a fine biographer of polar explorers (Nansen, Shackleton), was distintly and unapologetically anti-Scott. And while Scott made errors (the biggest being his modern-minded "diversity" in taking seaman Evans along), his expedition was meticulously planned and employed the latest scientific and techonological advances. Solomon's COLDEST MARCH lays some Scott criticism aside (and since Solomon is a scientist who has actually worked in Antarctica her credentials should carry more weight with the anti-Scotteans than it does). Scott and Amundsen were products of their class and their era, but both also had been on polar adventures before and both men knew what they were up against. Scott is often, these days, portrayed by his detractors (euphemism) as mercurial and indecisive and, in some cases (as in the dramatization of Huntford's book) cruel.
In fact, Scott's polar expedition was a tragedy, in the classic sense as well as the modern. Many events beyond his control led to his death, but decisions he made did go woefully wrong. In any event, it seems, in light of more recent evidence than Huntford's, the whole party would have made it back in most years, but conditions were different on that part of the Antarctic than had been scientifically observed previously. Scott made some bad decisions that led to the tragedy, but it also seems he had a run of bad luck, while Amundsen (and this is not a detraction of him to say so) had a run of good luck. It's ironic that Amundsen left a letter for Scott to take back (and he did) in case Amundsen died, but it proves Amundsen knew that, even with his methods, which seem the "right" ones because he lived, he ran the risk of death in those extreme conditions.
In A FIRST RATE TRAGEDY Preston presents her case clearly and with fairness, and without the judgmentalism that mars Huntford's well-researched and iconoclastic study.
To lighten up some on Scott, folks, does not demean Amundsen's achievements. It's not the silly either/or with the partisans for Cook or Peary. Both Amundsen and Scott could have died (probably should have died) and both might well have made it back alive. There seems to be, in the anti-Scotteans, the fear that if someone treats Scott with a modicum of non-judgmentalism and doesn't bludgeon Scott as a downright fool, it somehow makes denigrates Amundsen. Nonsense. Both men were brave, courageous and intrepid leaders. Their men deserve every bit of praise as being the brave men they were. Scott's expedition was more interested in the scientific end and Amundsen's willy-nilly chase for hte pole was an opportunistis to get the fame to do researches in the north, but the achievements of both neither man, unlike Cook and Peary, need to be given proper appreciation without the need to bludgeon the other.
Preston's A FIRST RATE TRAGEDY is a study of Scott whose time has come.
Great book on the polar adventure.......2002-04-11
This is a great tale of the fateful journey of Mr. Scott to the South Pole and the disaster that became him on the return journey.
Instead of rehashing the story of the book in this review, which other reviewers have already done, it's more interesting to focus on the book itself. I notice that many of those who rate this book poorly seem to do so because the author was too sympathetic to Scott, too hard on Schackelton or Amundsen, or point to other works as superior accounts of this historic tale.
I give this work 5 stars for a couple of reasons. First, she develops the inner psyche of each participant, digging into their personalities, explaining what made them tick and how that caused them to make the decisions that they made. Second, it's obvious a well-researched book. The author continually points out inconsistencies between the participants published (and sanitized) works vs. what they said privately in their journals. Third, the story is balanced. I supposed this is a point that other reviewers disagree on, for what one person calls "balanced" another person calls "biased". She points out what they did right and what they did wrong, not dwelling on either point. People who downgrade this book seem to do so because the author didn't berate Scott more for his mistakes and blunders, of which he made many of. However, I'm interested in history, and not finger pointing. Fourth, it's a great story.
The reading of this book is easy and interesting, and I recommend it.
A First Rate Justification.......2001-11-22
Please read other works of Antarctic exploration before you read this book of fiction promoted as a work of historical research. Read books like Huntford's "The Last Place on Earth", Amundsen's "South Pole", Cherry-Garrard's "The Worst Journey in the World", and from Scott's own diaries "The Diaries of Captain Robert Scott" for reliable information on which to make up your own mind about Scott's expedition. Read these books with a nuanced view, using your critical thinking to come up with your own conclusions. I doubt you will agree with Preston's thesis when you have done so.
In my readings, I have identified 31 separate areas in which Scott's methods were inadequate for safe polar travel as compared to his contemporaries (Amundsen, Peary, Cook, Borchgrevink, Nansen, Shackleton, etc.). Could all 31 areas really have been a matter of bad luck, Ms. Preston? I think not.
If this is the only book you are reading on Antarctic exploration, don't even bother. While she writes a good story, it is just that - a story.
Average customer rating:
- Scott and Shackleton's First Antartic Expedition
- Fresh and reasoned assessment
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Pilgrims on the Ice: Robert Falcon Scott's First Antarctic Expedition
T. H. Baughman
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
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Amazon.com
By 1900, the great Victorian explorers had opened up vast areas of the Globe. As one of the world's few remaining uncharted tracts, Antarctica fired contemporaries' imaginations. To lead its Antarctic expedition of 1901, the Royal Geographical Society of London chose Robert Scott, a naval officer who was to die a decade later attempting to reach the South Pole. T. H. Baughman, Chair of History at Benedictine College, makes it clear that, in the 19th-century tradition, adventure rather than science was the overriding motivation for the 1901 expedition. With academic thoroughness he follows the venture's funding, the construction of a custom-built ship, and the vessel's slow journey south. For two years its crew explored new latitudes, enduring with basic equipment some of the most extreme weather on earth. Scurvy was a problem, clothing was primitive, and candles were insufficient for the long Antarctic winters. The enterprise was typical of the qualities that won the British Empire, a combination of amateurish blundering and stiff-upper-lip determination. Filled with human drama, the book offers a fascinating picture of Victorian social mores, the class distinctions between officers and men highlighted with telling (often food-related) vignettes. Besides its geographical discoveries, the expedition was important in providing experience for several of the later Antarctic explorers, including Shackleton and Scott himself. Since the discovery of extraordinary photographs taken on Shackleton's ill-fated expedition (see Caroline Alexander's The Endurance), interest in early polar exploration has surged. Pilgrims On The Ice is a major addition to the field. --John Stevenson
Book Description
Robert Falcon Scott’s 1901–4 expedition to the Antarctic was a landmark event in the history of Antarctic exploration and created a sensation comparable to the Arctic efforts of the American Robert E. Peary. Scott’s initial expedition was also the first step toward the dramatic race to the South Pole in 1912 that resulted in the tragic deaths of Scott and his companions. Since then Scott’s reputation has vacillated between two extremes: Was he a martyred hero, the beau ideal of a brave and selfless explorer, or a bumbling fool whose mistakes killed him and his entire party? In this work, Antarctic historian T. H. Baughman goes beyond the personality of Scott to remove the first expedition from the shadow of the second, to study objectively its purpose, its composition, and its real accomplishments.
Customer Reviews:
Scott and Shackleton's First Antartic Expedition.......1999-12-28
Dr. Baughman continues to build on his reputation as America's preeminent polar historian in this book: Pilgrims on Ice (his first book on early Antartic exploration was Before the Heroes Came). This book focues on Robert Scott and the Discovery Expedition 1901 to 1904. By reading Dr. Baughman's work - one can see that this initial expedition laid the groundwork for the British expeditions of the following 21 years. In fact, the major players all played a part in this initial expedition. This voyage was Shackleton's first expedition to the South (serving as Scott's third officer). And I enjoyed the new insights Baughman provided into the young Shackleton, as well as the human details on expedition leader Scott and the rest of band. In its 250-odd pages of text, this becomes the first exhaustive account of the Discovery expedition 1901 to 1904 by a late 20th century polar historian. Baughman's extensive use of original documents in British and European archives brings fresh insight and more details on this heroic group then ever before available. I recommend this for lovers of travel, adventure, and biography.
Fresh and reasoned assessment.......1999-12-27
This book presents a fresh and reasoned assessment of Scott's first Antarctic expedition in its historical context. Engagingly written and well researched, its perspective casts an interesting light on aspects of Scott's first Antarctic expedition that have been passed over in general works on Scott in favor of the drama of the second expedition. The first expedition had ample drama of its own, and the author's take on such personalities as Clements Markham, Shackleton, and Scott himself is different enough from "standard received" to merit reading. I was particularly interested in the author's description of the interplay between Scott's orders as he received them and perceived them and subsequent criticism of the expedition for its failure to maximize the results obtained for the resources invested.
All in all, readable, informative, interesting, and well worth a read. You will find the point of view rather different from that so persuasively presented by Roland Huntford in his recently re-released "Scott and Amundsen," but partisanship -- if so strong a term may be used -- intrudes only occasionally, and then only in instances in which the author feels unfair misrepresentation may have done violence to the historical record.
I enjoyed this book!
Book Description
Between the middle of January and the end of March 1912 five men died in the attempt to return from the South Pole to their base on the edge of Antarctica. Their leader, the last to die and the man whose diary described their agonies was Robert Falcon Scott. The expedition had been beaten to the Pole by a band of racing Norwegians, led by Roald Amundsen. The bodies of the last three to die were found seven months later and, ever since, Scott's men have been British heroes. It is that legend, as much as their ordeal that is the subject of this book. Scott's men and the supporting characters, Amundsen and Shackleton, his rivals; Clement Markham, his discoverer; his wife Kathleen—give a fascinating picture of English society before the First World War. The story of the drama becomes also an illustration of human and social character. And, to the extent that Scott is legendary in England, the book tells something about the English and their attitude to duty. "When Thomson writes a book, it is time for celebration."—Booklist " "Thomson is an expert: an expert storyteller, critic, thinker, investigator and observer of the all-too-human landscape."—Steven Bach
Customer Reviews:
The Race to the South Pole.......2006-01-09
David Thomson's "Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen" is sub-titled "Ambition and Tragedy in the Antarctic", which nicely captures the thrust of the book. At the heart of the narrative is the race by a handful of competing explorers ambitious for the glory of being first to the South Pole.
First off is Shackleton's 1907-1908 expedition, which walked to a remarkable 88 degrees South latitude, literally within a few days march of the Pole. Shackleton made the hard decision to turn back because he correctly realized how desperately narrow his team's margin of survival had become. From Shackleton's attempt should have come hard lessons in just how strenuous and tenuous life would be in the extreme conditions of Antarctica.
Scott and Amundsen launched expeditions in 1911-1912. Amundsen, a Norwegian with considerable experience in the Arctic, learned from previous expeditions and traveled by the proven means of skis and dog sleds. His team made a remarkably fast and ultimately uneventful run, achieving the South Pole first.
Scott's expedition experimented with primitive motor vehicles and ponies, both badly unsuited to the conditions, and ended up dragging a sledge over the ice and snow. Scott's team persisted through a variety of challenges all the way to the South Pole and the crushing discovery that they had missed being first by a month. The struggle back from the Pole ends in tragedy, as insufficient supplies and cold weather sap the team into extinction just eleven miles from a vital depot of supplies. Ironically, Scott was at the time more famous than either of his competitors, thanks to the heroic cast given his failure by his journal, which was recovered and published by a rescue team. In retrospect, as Thomson brings out, Scott must take the responsibility for the tragedy, for failing to learn from the experiences of others, and very likely for letting pride and ambition overrun common sense.
Thomson's book is well-researched and highly readable, sown with the kind of excellent biographical detail that brings to life the men who participated in the expeditions. This book is highly recommended to those interested in polar exploration.
The Last Place on Earth "Lite".......2004-09-10
This is a pretty good review of the short era of Antarctic exploration. It's not nearly as detailed (or long) as Huntford's tome, "The Last Place on Earth," and so comparisons between the three explorers are a little more "watered down." Even so, Thomson is a tad more sympathetic of Scott without becoming a cheerleader; in fact, Thomson basically reaches similar conclusions about Scott's failings as an expeditionary commander, but manages to point out these failings without vilifying Scott (something that Huntford has been accused of doing). "Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen" also gives more detail about the men under Scott (the original title of the book was "Scott's Men") than is found in most other books about Scott et al., and I found this refreshing. If you're looking for a good review of the Antarctic saga that can be read in a few nights, then this is the book to read.
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