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The Last Place on Earth (Modern Library Exploration)
Roland Huntford Manufacturer: Modern Library ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0375754741 Release Date: 1999-09-07 |
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
Read the notes at the end of the book!.......2007-02-18
The Last Place On Earth.......2007-01-12
Well researched, penetrating, a tad biased.......2006-12-07
The last book on earth...twisted facts, and damn lies .......2006-08-10
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Journals: Scott's Last Expedition (Oxford World's Classics)
Robert Falcon Scott Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0199297525 |
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.
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A First Rate Tragedy: Robert Falcon Scott and the Race to the South Pole
Diana Preston Manufacturer: Mariner Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0618002014 |
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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
Good account of the South Pole expedition.......2005-02-15
Scott as Tragic Hero.......2003-01-22
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
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
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.
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Race to the Pole: Tragedy, Heroism, and Scott's Antarctic Quest
Ranulph Fiennes Manufacturer: Hyperion ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: B000KHXBK4 |
Book Description
Now in paperback, the real story of Captain Robert Scott's legendary Antarctic quest, told by the man whom the Guinness Book of World Records has proclaimed "the world's greatest living explorer"In 1911, Captain Robert Scott and his competitor Roald Amundsen conquered the unconquerable: Antarctica. This perilous race to the South Pole claimed the life of Scott and became the stuff of legend, as well as scrutiny. This compelling, meticulously researched history of Captain Scott and his fatal journey, by renowned modern-day explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, holder of 10 expeditionary records, is the definitive account of this hotly debated quest.
Fiennes offers an account of Scott's motivations and aspirations for the Pole, and his historic clash with Amundsen over goals and approaches. He also reveals the unpredictably disastrous weather patterns that led to the extreme cold that ultimately doomed Scott's return trip. Infused with the intensity of fiction and exhibiting an exhaustive eye for detail found in the greatest historical biographies, Race to the Pole is a prodigious achievement and certain to become a classic in the literature of exploration.
Customer Reviews:
Mildly informative, but ultimately far too biased.......2006-12-07
Awe Inspiring Story.......2006-08-14
A completely biased anti-Huntford book.......2006-07-13
Fienne's opinion on the .......2005-06-03
Man-hauler Critiques Man-hauler.......2005-01-28
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Scott's Last Journey
Robert Falcon Scott Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 006019670X Release Date: 2000-05-16 |
Book Description
The dramatic disappearance of the explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his companions in their race to reach the South Pole was seen by their contemporaries as creating heroes in a new mould. A few years later, during World War I, Scott's rival Shackleton also nearly met his death in the Antarctic, becoming in the process another hero. Both men were set on a pedestal, uncritically, because they tried and failed.
As the years have gone by, Scott's reputation has been weighed in the balance with Shackleton's - and found wanting. Even the precious journals that Scott wrote on the journey are no longer in print, while photographs of the expedition have gathered dust in scientific institutes. In this new edition of the journals, Peter King re-examines Scott's exploits, setting his own account against modern studies of the Polar Race and thus enabling readers to make their own judgements for the first time.
The text is illuminated by a selection of photographs, many of breath-taking quality, taken by one of the greatest Antarctic explorers, Herbert Ponting, who accompanied Scott. More than a hundred and forty of these, many only recently released by the Royal Geographical Society, bring this extraordinary story to life.
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Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott: Race for the South Pole (World's Great Explorers)
Paul P. Sipiera Manufacturer: Childrens Pr ProductGroup: Book Binding: School & Library Binding ASIN: 0516030566 |
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Robert Falcon Scott (Junior World Explorers)
Joan Bristow Manufacturer: Chelsea House Pub (L) ProductGroup: Book Binding: Library Binding ASIN: 0791015068 |
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Scott's Last Expedition
Robert Falcon Scott Manufacturer: IndyPublish.com ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 1414295839 |
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Scott's Last Expedition
Robert Falcon Scott Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 1419146386 |
Book Description
Sunday, June 4.--A calm and beautiful day. The account of this, a typical Sunday, would run as follows: Breakfast. A half-hour or so selecting hymns and preparing for Service whilst the hut is being cleared up. The Service: a hymn; Morning prayer to the Psalms; another hymn; prayers from Communion Service and Litany; a final hymn and our special prayer. Wilson strikes the note on which the hymn is to start and I try to hit it after with doubtful success! After church the men go out with their ponies.
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A World Explorer: Robert Falcon Scott (World Explorer Books)
Joan Bristow Manufacturer: Arcade Bks ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0811664686 |
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