Shackleton by Roland Huntford (2004)

$40.00
Author Roland Huntford
Barcode 9780349107448
ISBN 9780349107448
Format Books
Publisher Hachette
Size 122 x 196 x 52mm
Weight (g) 663 g

Product description

Ernest Shackleton was the quintessential Edwardian hero. A contemporary - and adversary - of Scott, he sailed on the Discovery expedition of 1900, and went on to mount three expeditions of his own. Like Scott, he was a social adventurer; snow and ice held no particular attraction, but the pursuit of wealth, fame and power did. Yet Shackleton, and Anglo-Irishman who left school at 16, needed status to raise money ... Read More

Ernest Shackleton was the quintessential Edwardian hero. A contemporary - and adversary - of Scott, he sailed on the Discovery expedition of 1900, and went on to mount three expeditions of his own. Like Scott, he was a social adventurer; snow and ice held no particular attraction, but the pursuit of wealth, fame and power did. Yet Shackleton, and Anglo-Irishman who left school at 16, needed status to raise money for his own expeditions.

At various times he was involved in journalism, politics, manufacturing and City fortune-hunting - none of them very effectively. A frustrated poet, he was never to be successful with money, but he did succeed in marrying it. At his height he was feted as a national hero, knighted by Edward VII, and granted GBP20,000 by the government for achievements which were, and remain, the very stuff of legend. But the world to which he returned in 1917 after the sensational Endurance expedition did not seem to welcome surviving heroes.

Poverty-stricken by the end of the war, he had to pay off his debts through writing and endless lecturing. He finally obtained funds for another expedition, but dies of a heart attack, aged only 47, at it reached South Georgia.

'Magnificent ... Huntford has done justice to this great and complex man. That, in itself, is a triumph' - Sunday Times

'Expertly handled and written ... makes extensive uncensored use of the diaries written at the time' - Economist

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Author Roland Huntford
Barcode 9780349107448
Isbn 9780349107448
Format Books
Publisher Hachette
Size 122 x 196 x 52mm
Weight (g) 663 g

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