Author(s): Roland Huntford

Biography/Memoir

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the South Pole was the most coveted prize in the modern age of exploration. In this brilliant dual biography, Roland Huntford re-examines every detail of the great race to the South Pole between Britain's Robert Scott and Norway's Roald Amundsen. Scott, who died along with four of his men, became Britain's beloved failure, while Amundsen, who not only beat Scott but returned alive, was largely forgotten. Gripping and highly readable, Shackleton captures the driving ambitions of the era and the complex, often deeply flawed men who were charged with carrying them out.