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The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition

Format: Hardcover
Author: Caroline Alexander
ReleaseDate: 03 November, 1998
Publisher: Knopf
Rating:

Incredible read for any fan of an Adventure Story
I had the chanc to see a museum tour that was dedicated to this story. Wow is all I can say - this book is amazing and so are the photos. I started this book early in the evening and was unable to put it down until the early morning when I read the last page.

This is an incredible story of human courage, leadership, and adventure. This is truly a must read.

Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
A must read for any couch, or an all-out, adventurer. An incredible book. .

Gripping and Beautiful Account of Survival


Shackleton's expedition was trapped in the ice off the Antarctic Coast and forced to drift with the icepack. Caroline Alexander's "The Endurance" was published in 1998 as a companion volume to the American Museum of Natural History's Shackleton Exhibit, but it easily stands on its own as a beautifully written and wonderfully illustrated account of Shackleton's legendary Antarctic expedition of 1914-1916. When their ship, the Endurance, was crushed by the ice, Shackleton led his men hundreds of miles over the ice and then by small boat to barren Elephant Island at the very tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The dangers of this trip can scarcely be exaggerated; Shackleton was rightly acclaimed a hero for having gotten all his men safely to that point. But Shackleton then sailed in a small boat with a handful of companions across the stormy South Atlantic to the island of South Georgia to reach a whaling station. Making landfall on the wrong side of the island, Shackleton and two companions made the first ever crossing of the interior of South Georgia to summon help at the whaling station. Ultimately, all of his men were rescued.

Shackleton's expedition failed in its primary objective of exploration, and the news of the rescue was lost in the bloody chaos of the First World War. A nice postscript recounts the further history of the expedition's members.

Alexander's book and the American Museum of Natural History's exhibit went far to acquaint Americans with Shackleton's remarkable feat of leadership and fortitude under extreme adversity. Alexander recounts the story in simple but evocative prose. The publication of a stunning collection of photographs by expedition member Frank Hurley brings a sense of dramatic scale and personal detail to the narrative.

This book is highly recommended to those readers interested in Shackleton's expedition and those interested in the Antarctic itself.

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