Antarctic Destinies: Scott, Shackleton, and the Changing Face of Heroism (Hambledon Continuum)

By Stephanie Barczewski

Book Overview

This book covers the two most famous expeditions of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova expedition of 1910-12 and Ernest Shackleton's Endurance expedition of 1914-16. For decades after his tragic death on the return journey from the South Pole, to which he had been beaten by five weeks by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, Scott was regarded as a saint-like figure with an unassailable reputation born from his heroic martyrdom in the frozen wastes of the Antarctic. In recent years, however, Scott has attracted some of the most intense criticism any explorer has ever received. Shackleton's reputation, meanwhile, has followed a reverse trajectory. Although his achievements were always appreciated, they were never celebrated with nearly the same degree of adulation that traditionally surrounded Scott.
Today, Scott and Shackleton occupy very different places in the polar pantheon of British heroes. Stephanie Barczewski explores the evolution of their reputations, and finds it has little to do with new discoveries regarding their lives and characters, but far more to do with broader cultural changes and changes in conceptions of heroism in Britain and the United States.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1847251927
• ISBN13: 9781847251923
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Continuum
• Length: 412 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Any general-interest library strong in exploration history and Antarctic history in general will fin

ANTARCTIC DESTINIES: SCOTT, SHACKLETON AND THE CHANGING FACE OF HEROISM follows the changing reputations and historical discovers of three early explorers of the Antarctic and their entwined lives and objectives. The idea of the heroic explorer and their special challenges comes to life in chapters that reveal their changing images, their lives, and how and why their reputations have changed in the literature. Any general-interest library strong in exploration history and Antarctic history in general will find this invaluable.

Authoritative account

An authoritative and well researched review. The author has used her literary skills with inteligence and there is evidence of a degree of passion for her subject. I have enjoyed the book immensely. I don't consider this a book for the novice. One needs a reasonable understanding of Antarctic exploration and history to appreciate the finer points encountered. There is a bias towards Scott in her comparisons, but the author makes her position clear from the outset;in fact her reason for writing the account. I am full of admiration for her exhaustive research on the achievements of the two explorers and their life and times. I have found the account a wonderful addition to my Antarctic Library and it is already being used as a source of reference to other work. There some factual errors in the text and in one photo along with some typographical errors, which are disappointing in such an authoritative review, but do not detract from the substance of the theme. I have pleasure in recommending this work. I believe all 'Antarcticans' would enjoy this account which offers a catalyst to 'polarise' ones views on the destinies of these two explorers.