A First Rate Tragedy: Robert Falcon Scott and the Race to the South Pole
by Diana Preston
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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 show more 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. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
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.
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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Published Reviews
ThingScore 75
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.
added by Indy133
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Polar exploration
54 works; 4 members
Author Information
18+ Works 3,010 Members
Diana Preston is a prize-winning historian and author of A Higher Form of Killing, Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy, Before the Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima (winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology), The Boxer Rebellion, Paradise in Chains, and A Pirate of Exquisite Mind, among other works of acclaimed narrative show more history. She and her husband, Michael, live in London. show less
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- A First Rate Tragedy: Robert Falcon Scott and the Race to the South Pole
- People/Characters
- Robert Falcon Scott
- Important places
- Antarctica
- Important events
- British National Antarctic Expedition (1901 | 1904); Terra Nova Expedition
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, History, Travel, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 919.8904 — History & geography Geography & travel Geography of and travel in Australasia, Pacific Ocean islands, Atlantic Ocean islands, Arctic islands, Antarctica and on extraterrestrial worlds Polar regions Antarctica
- LCC
- G850 — Geography, Anthropology and Recreation Geography (General) Arctic and Antarctic regions
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 190
- Popularity
- 171,438
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.89)
- Languages
- English, German, Italian, Portuguese
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 17
- UPCs
- 2
- ASINs
- 2
