This Accursed Land

An engaging story set in the early 1900’s during the height of artic and polar exploration.

Rated as one of the 10 best books of 20th century exploration by The Explorer’s Club, Lennard Bickel chronicles the incredible story of Australian Douglas Mawson’s 1911-1913 Antarctic Expedition. Less renown than several of his counterparts including Amundsen, Shackleton, and Scott, he did, however, lead one of the greatest scientific and discovery expeditions of his day.

This relatively short read is less about his and his several team’s exploits, but more about the endured hardships and will to survive while continually faced with some of the harshest elements on this planet.

Sub zero cold, constant 50-60 mile/hr winds, frequent hurricane show more force conditions with blowing snow instead of rain; and all the while fighting some of the most dangerous across ice trekking conditions possible. Not just a few miles, but weeks upon weeks and hundreds upon hundreds of miles with almost no let up of suddenly disappearing into an unseen crevasse. False starts, miles of backtracking or suddenly watching your sled dogs disappear from view as the snow bridge collapses beneath them.

It was a captivating read; and worthy of the 4 to 5 rating just for the story by itself. I stayed with the “5”, but if there was a shortfall, it would be my perception that perhaps the book was written in a style or at a level leaning slightly to close towards an overview. At times there seemed insufficient character development to draw you into feeling as part of the story line and circumstances encountered. Never the less, it is still a great book. show less

Not nearly as literary as [a:Apsley Cherry-Garrard|27180|Apsley Cherry-Garrard|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s [b:The Worst Journey in the World|48503|The Worst Journey in the World|Apsley Cherry-Garrard|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388224063s/48503.jpg|47447] but still page turning exciting and awe inspiring. Bickel doesn't mention many sources but we have to assume he had [a:Douglas Mawson|417276|Douglas Mawson|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1253105867p2/417276.jpg]'s own [b:The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914|9871069|The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914|Douglas show more Mawson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348226888s/9871069.jpg|1143762] to go by and presumably his diaries. Up to a certain point he has Xavier Mertz's diary as well but I'm still not sure how Bickel fills in all the blanks so definitively particularly after Mertz dies. There is a three chapter excerpt from [b:The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914|9871069|The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914|Douglas Mawson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348226888s/9871069.jpg|1143762] in my edition covering the same timeframe as Bickel.

Anyway, another smashing good read about a polar expedition where about everything that could go wrong did, up to a point. Somehow Australian Mawson alone, having lost or left behind most of his food and gear, suffering from starvation, snow blindness, vitamin A poisoning, and scurvy manages to literally crawl and roll downhill a good part of the way back to where he started and survive to boot.

Few know about Mawson due to the fact that his saga was overshadowed by the Scott-Amundsen race to the South Pole and the subsequent disaster that happened to the Scott party on the way back around the same time. show less

The story was amazing, and further amplified by listening to it on my winter commutes. I felt, in some small sense, the Antarctic cold that pervades this true story of survival.

The book could really use a good editor, but the story is so compelling that it is hard to put down.

1911-1913, exploring west of Cape Adare.
Ninnis falls down a crevasse, Mertz dies of Vitamin A toxicity, but Mawson survives.
Ripping yarn from "The Heroic Age".

I read it years ago but its impact remains.

Published in US as Mawson's Will