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This acclaimed dual biography charts both British Robert Scott's and Norwegian Roald Amundsen's race to the South Pole during 1911?12. Bizarrely, Scott died in his quest and became a tragic hero, whereas Amundsen, the victor, was largely forgotten. Reassessing the two explorers and their methods of exploration, the book examines the driving ambitions of the era, recounts the race in detail, and explores the flaws of and differences between the two men. Tim Pigott-Smith evokes all the power and pathos of this enduringly fascinating slice of history. ...
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Predating the wheel, the ski has played an important role in our history. This is brilliantly brought to life in this engaging book. Roland Huntford's brilliant history begins 20,000 years ago in the last ice age on the icy tundra of an unformed earth. Man is a travelling animal, and on these icy slopes skiing began as a means of survival. That it has developed into the leisure and sporting pursuit of choice by so much of the globe bears testament to its elemental appeal. In polar exploration, it has changed the course of history. Elsewhere, in war and peace, it has done so too. The origins of skiing are bound up in with the emergence of modern man and the world we live in today....
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Behind the great polar explorers of the early twentieth century—Amundsen, Shackleton, Scott in the South, and Peary in the North—looms the spirit of Fridtjof Nansen, the mentor of them all. He was the father of modern polar exploration, the last act of territorial discovery before the leap into space began. A restless, unquiet Faustian spirit, Nansen was a Renaissance Man born out of his time in Norway. He was an adventurer, an artist and historian, and a diplomat who had dealings with Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin, and played a part in the Versailles Peace Conference. ...
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At the beginning of the twentieth century, the South Pole was the most coveted prize in the fiercely nationalistic modern age of exploration. In the brilliant dual biography, the award-winning writer Roland Huntford re-examines every detail of the great race to the South Pole between Britain's Robert Scott and Norway's Roald Amundsen. Scott, who dies along with four of his men only eleven miles from his next cache of supplies, became Britain's beloved failure, while Amundsen, who not only beat Scott to the Pole but returned alive, was largely forgotten. This account of their race is a gripping, highly readable history that captures the driving ambitions of the era and the complex, often deeply flawed men who were charged with carrying them out. THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH is the first of Huntford's masterly trilogy of polar biographies. It is also the only work on the subject in the English language based on the original Norwegian sources, to which Huntford returned to revise and update this edition....
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Did you know that the ski is older than the wheel? Roland Huntford's brilliant history of skiing begins 20,000 years ago in the last ice age on the frozen tundra. On these icy slopes skiing began as a means of survival. That it has developed into the leisure and sporting pursuit of choice for so many, in so many countries, bears testament to its elemental appeal. Its use in both polar exploration and wartime has changed the course of history. The origins of skiing are bound up with the emergence of modern man and the making of the world we live in. The dramatic history of skiing is brought to life in this engaging book....
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