The New Yorker
"Best read in the course of a single stormy night... you will be gripped."
Book Description
Veteran explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s excruciating and inspiring expedition to Antarctica aboard the Endurance has long captured the public imagination. South is his own first-hand account of this epic adventure. As war clouds darkened over Europe in 1914, a party led by Shackleton set out to make the first crossing of the entire Antarctic continent via the Pole. But their initial optimism was short-lived as ice floes closed around their ship, gradually crushing it and marooning twenty-eight men on the polar ice. Alone in the world’s most unforgiving environment, Shackleton and his team began a brutal quest for survival. And as the story of their journey across treacherous seas and a wilderness of glaciers and snow fields unfolds, the scale of their courage and heroism becomes movingly clear.
About the Author
Ernest Shackleton (1874–1922) was a junior officer under Robert Falcon Scott during the 1901–1904 expedition to the South Pole. His expedition on the whaler Nimrod in 1907 earned him a knighthood. Fergus Fleming is the author of Killing Dragons: The Conquest of the Alps, Ninety Degrees North: The Quest for the North Pole, and Barrow’s Boys.
South: The Endurance Expedition FROM THE PUBLISHER
As the war clouds darkened over Europe in 1914, a party led by veteran explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton set out to make the first crossing of the entire Antarctic continent via the South Pole. But their initial optimism was short-lived as the ice floes closed around their ship, Endurance, gradually crushing her to death and marooning the twenty-eight men on the polar ice.
FROM THE CRITICS
AudioFile - Jeremiah D. Newbury
One might expect this story told by a Victorian explorer about his own exploits in Antarctica to be a little tedious. To the contrary, itﾽs filled with fascinating developments and details and doesnﾽt shrink from the stark realities of the story, as evidenced by the description of shooting and eating the sled dogs to prevent their and the humansﾽ starvation. Sir Ernest Shackleton writes mostly in the first person. The audio publisher uses a different acoustic (a hollow and reverberant sound) for quotes and letters from others, which is an interesting, but disconcerting, technique. However, Barnettﾽs reading remains at all times sober, straightforward and undramatic, as befits the seriousness of the subject. J.D.N. ﾽAudioFile, Portland, Maine
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