The coldest March : Scott's fatal Antarctic expedition
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The coldest March : Scott's fatal Antarctic expedition
Yale University Press, 2001
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 373-375) and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
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ISBN 9780300089677
Description
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 realisation 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 honour they deserve.
- Volume
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: pbk ISBN 9780300099218
Description
"These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale." So penned Captain Robert Falcon Scott in 1912 as he confronted defeat and death in the crippling subzero temperatures of Antarctica. In this riveting book, Susan Solomon finishes the interrupted tale of Scott and his British expedition, depicting the staggering 900-mile trek to the South Pole and resolving the debate over the journey's failure.
"An absorbing, fascinating read . . . a book that will appeal to the explorer in everyone."-Sally Ride
"Solomon argues her case well, in exact and graceful prose."-Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post Book World
"Persuasive. . . . [Solomon] reaches important new conclusions about Scott's expedition."-Sara Wheeler, New York Times Book Review
"Brilliant. . . . A marvelous and complex book: at once a detective story, a brilliant vindication of a maligned man, and an elegy both for Scott and his men and for the 'crystalline continent' on which they died."-Robert MacFarlane, Guardian
"Solomon has crafted a smart, terrific book and an important addition to polar history."-Roberta MacInnis, Houston Chronicle
by "Nielsen BookData"
