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Mawson

Mawson 1

And the Ice Men of the Heroic Age: Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen

by Peter FitzSimons
Paperback
Publication Date: 03/12/2012
5/5 Rating 1 Review

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The story of Australia's most famous polar explorer and the giants from the heroic age of polar exploration- Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton.

The story of Australia's most famous polar explorer and the giants from the heroic age of polar exploration- Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton.

Sir Douglas Mawson, born in 1882 and knighted in 1914, remains Australia's greatest Antarctic explorer. On 2 December 1911, his Australasian Antarctic Expedition left Hobart to explore the virgin frozen coastline below Australia, 2000 miles of which had never felt the tread of a human foot. He was on his way to fulfil a national dream he had first conceived three years earlier, while on his first trip to the frozen continent on the Nimrod expedition under the leadership of the charismatic Anglo-Irishman Sir Ernest Shackleton.

Even as Mawson and his men were approaching Antarctica, two other famous Antarctic explorers were already engaged in nothing less than a race to become the first men to reach the South Pole. While Roald Amundsen of Norway, with his small team, was racing with dogs along one route, England's legendary Scott of the Antarctic, with his far larger team, was relying primarily on ponies and 'man-hauling' to get there along another.

As Mawson and his men make their home on the windiest place on earth and prepare for their own record-breaking treks, with devastating drama to be their constant companion, the stories of Amundsen and Scott similarly play out.

With his trademark in-depth research, FitzSimons provides a compelling portrait of these great Antarctic explorers. For the first time, he weaves together their legendary feats into one thrilling account, bringing the jaw-dropping events of this bygone era dazzlingly back to life.
ISBN:
9781742752792
9781742752792
Category:
Expeditions
Format:
Paperback
Publication Date:
03-12-2012
Language:
English
Publisher:
Random House Australia
Country of origin:
Australia
Pages:
768
Dimensions (mm):
233x154x48mm
Weight:
0.9kg
Peter FitzSimons

Peter FitzSimons is a journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald and Sun-Herald, and a busy events and motivational speaker.

He is the author of over twenty-seven books, including Tobruk, Kokoda, Batavia, Eureka, Ned Kelly, Gallipoli and biographies of Douglas Mawson, Nancy Wake‚ Kim Beazley‚ Nick Farr-Jones‚ Les Darcy, Steve Waugh and John Eales, and is one of Australia's biggest selling non-fiction authors of the last fifteen years.

Peter was named a Member of the Order of Australia for service to literature as a biographer, sports journalist and commentator, and to the community through contributions to conservation, disability care, social welfare and sporting organisations. He lives with his wife, Lisa Wilkinson, and their three children in Sydney.

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Who could have thought that an historic biography of Antarctic exploration in the early 20th century would result in a page turner, yet that is exactly was has been achieved. Many congratulations are in order for a fine body of work, seldom have I attacked such a voluminous script with such alacrity.



The dialogue fashioned created an atmosphere that almost left me reaching for my cardie on days that called for abundant use of air-conditioning. It is impossible for me to even come close to comprehending what it must have been like for those brave souls to have endured such devastating temperatures and conditions. Never the less, I doubt that any portrayal of those artic conditions could come closer to their reality than that which was so skilfully achieved in this book.

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