A First-Rate Tragedy: Robert Falcon Scott and the Race to the South Pole

by Diana Preston

Hardcover, 1998

Call number

919.890 PRE

Collection

Nonfiction

Genres

General Nonfiction

Biography & Memoir

History

Publication

Houghton Mifflin (1998), 304 pages

Description

On November 12, 1912, a rescue team trekking across Antarctica's Great Ice Barrier finally found what they sought - the snow-covered tent of the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott. Inside, they made a grim discovery: Scott's frozen body lay between the bodies of two fellow explorers. They had died just eleven miles from the depot of supplies which might have saved them. Why did Scott's meticulously laid plans finally end in disaster, while his rival, Norwegian Roald Amundsen, returned safely home with his crew after attaining the Pole only days before the British team? In a newly revised and updated version of her original book, Diana Preston, returns to Antarctica and explores why Scott's carefully planned expedition failed, ending in tragedy.… (more)

Subjects

Antarctica Discovery and exploration

British Antarctic ("Terra Nova") Expedition (1910-1913)

British National Antarctic Expedition (1901-1904)

Scott, Robert Falcon, 1868-1912 Travel Antarctica

South Pole

Media reviews

literaturkritik.de

Somit ist der Autorin eine sehr empfehlenswerte Dokumentation gelungen, die gleichermaßen fesselt wie anrührt. Eine Dokumentation, die Zeugnis ablegt von einer der letzten großen Expeditionen der Moderne, die trotz Entbehrungen und unmenschlicher Bedingungen nur das eine Ziel vor Augen hatte:

Als erster Mensch am letzten, noch nicht durchkartographierten Punkt des Globus zu sein- dem Südpol.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member hockeycrew

Excellent book about the race for the South Pole. Paints a very good picture of the political motivations at the time for the rush to the south pole

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LibraryThing member jrbeach

I thought it was a very balanced and unbiased view of Scott's journey to the South Pole. I'm I fan of polar literature, but haven't read anything in a while. It seemed to me this book had more excerpts from diaries and other sources that some of the other books i've read.

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