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In August 1914, days before the outbreak of the First World War, the renowned explorer Ernest Shackleton and a crew of twenty-seven set sail for the South Atlantic in pursuit of the last unclaimed prize in the history of exploration: the first crossing on foot of the Antarctic continent. Weaving a treacherous path through the freezing Weddell Sea, they had come within eighty-five miles of their destination when their ship, Endurance, was trapped fast in the ice pack. Soon the ship was crushed like matchwood, leaving the crew stranded on the floes. Their ordeal would last for twenty months, and they would make two near-fatal attempts to escape by open boat before their final rescue.
Drawing upon previously unavailable sources, Caroline Alexander gives us a riveting account of Shackleton's expedition--one of history's greatest epics of survival. And she presents the astonishing work of Frank Hurley, the Australian photographer whose visual record of the adventure has never before been published comprehensively. Together, text and image re-create the terrible beauty of Antarctica, the awful destruction of the ship, and the crew's heroic daily struggle to stay alive, a miracle achieved largely through Shackleton's inspiring leadership.
The survival of Hurley's remarkable images is scarcely less miraculous: The original glass plate negatives, from which most of the book's illustrations are superbly reproduced, were stored in hermetically sealed cannisters that survived months on the ice floes, a week in an open boat on the polar seas, and several more months buried in the snows of a rocky outcrop called Elephant Island. Finally Hurley was forced to abandon his professional equipment; he captured some of the most unforgettable images of the struggle with a pocket camera and three rolls of Kodak film.
Published in conjunction with the American Museum of Natural History's landmark exhibition on Shackleton's journey, The Endurance thrillingly recounts one of the last great adventures in the Heroic Age of exploration--perhaps the greatest of them all.
A remarkable account that takes you with the explorers
| Customer Rating:  | | This expedition was a failure in that Shackleton and his fellow explorers never accomplished the intended exploration. But this is a monumental story of survival I haven't read anything like this since, I believe, I was in my teens and engrossed in the arctic and antarctic explorations.The ship which carried the men to the South polar region was aptly named although the ship itself was ultimately lost in the wastes. Personal journal accounts and photographs taken during the ordeal are liberally used to tell us this story which is as enthralling as any fiction and yet is totally true. The fact that no human lives were lost during the months these men were trapped in the ice is of course incredible. This would be a great gift book for those armchair adventurers on your list. |
Inspiring and Beautiful
| Customer Rating: | A dear friend gave me this book when it was released and I became hooked on all things "Polar". The Frank Hurley photos alone are worth the price of the book. If you really want a treat, check out the photos under a magnifying glass---there are many interesting details missed with a casual glance. This is Ms. Alexander's best work (I read The Bounty a few years ago, and while a nice read, it pales in comparison to this gem.) I've given at least a half-dozen copies of this book to friends and family. And, while it may have the dimensions of a coffee table book, please read it if you have it; the prose is tight---and the Hurley photos. This book would be an excellent gift to a young person, as the photos are spectacular, but more importantly, the example of leadership of Sir Earnest Shackleton (a true leader) is inspiring to say the least.
Very highly recommended. |
The Endurance book review
| Customer Rating:  | | Caroline Alexander's work of non-fiction The Endurance is a wonderful read, effectively portraying Shackleton's Antarctic expedition in an exciting and enjoyable manner. Alexander effectively uses the journals of the members of the expedition to demonstrate the feelings of the crewmen about their plight, their leader, and other members of the crew. One such example would be from the diary of Frank Worsley, the skipper of Endurance, describing crewmate Timothy McCarthy. "`He is the most irrepressible optimist I've ever met,' Worsley wrote in his navigating book,'" (Alexander 148). In addition, Alexander also demonstrates how optimism can lead to survival in situations in which the odds are heavily stacked against it. "`Optimism,' Shackleton once said, `is true moral courage'," (Alexander 56). Alexander's choice to include this Shackleton quote demonstrates how she believes that optimism is important in a time of crisis. The one aspect of the book that is mildly irritating, however, is the placement of the pictures. There are many pages of pictures placed at seemingly random intervals throughout the book, and this can cause quite some confusion due to the fact that the pictures often interrupt a sentence or a paragraph. However, overall The Endurance is a wonderful book about facing impossible odds and living to tell the tale. |
An Incredible Story-- Even if It Is Slow at Times
| Customer Rating: | Caroline Alexander's The Endurance, the memoir of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Antarctic expedition, is a relentlessly intriguing story, even with its few passages of slow, monotonous detail. This recollection of the voyage and survival of the Endurance is consistently awe-inspiring in its seemingly mythical events and journeys of Shackleton's 28 men. The artistic weaving of the crew's diaries and quotes with the haunting photographs of Frank Hurley, the expedition's photographer, is powerful and, for the most part, attention consuming. Its only problem is a few passages of too much detail, creating a slow, less interesting pace for the story.
The amazing situations and actions of the men, particularly Shackleton, is what made the book so enjoyable. The men lived in sub zero degree weather for over a year, eventually journeying almost 80 miles in three wooden life boats, but still come across as normal human beings. They argue about wives and hold grudges over dead pets. It is Shackleton, the timeless leader that he is, who creates something special from these men and drives them to safety. His ability to draw from others and please all (only Chippy McNish expressed any unhappiness during the journey) is an awe-inspiring feat that exemplifies what a great leader is and should be. The most amazing accomplishment of the expedition, created by the men and Shackleton alike, was the 800-mile journey by six men in a 22-foot-long life boat through a hurricane in the most inhospitable ocean in the world. When they finally made contact with civilization, they met another sailing crew. Frank Worsley recorded the following interaction with one man in particular: "He said he had been at sea over 40 years; that he knew this stormy Southern Ocean intimately, [...] and that never had he heard of such a wonderful feat of daring seamanship as bringing the 22-foot open boat from Elephant Island to South Georgia [...]. All the seamen present then came forward and solemnly shook hands with us in turn" (Alexander 166-167). To impress fellow seamen of the day, not to mention Norwegian seamen, truly displays the power of the accomplishments of the Endurance and the intriguing nature of the book. What made it all better was the care and leadership of Shackleton. After such an unbelievable adventure, he did not take time to celebrate, but turned to the help of the Chilean government in order to complete his journey. According to Shackleton, "[...] the grace and strength that had brought them so far would count for nothing if, when they eventually arrived, they found even one man dead on Elephant Island" (Alexander 169) The incredible strength and leadership of Shackleton, along with the endurance and misfortune of the crew in The Endurance leads to a very interesting read and an unforgettable story. |
A Tale of Survival
| Customer Rating: | The Endurance, by Caroline Alexander, is an exceptionally well-written epic about the human will to survive. The story begins with legendary Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew's daring quest to be the first to cross the continent of Antarctica. But bad luck and poor planning leave their ship, the Endurance, trapped in the Antarctic ice. As their ship is slowly crushed by the ice, the crew realizes that their journey is no longer about discovery, but survival. The crew eventually leaves the safety of their ship to brave the dangerous floes of the Antarctic ice, because "what the ice gets, the ice keeps" (Alexander 3).
Now laid before the crew is a situation that is "not merely formidable; it was, as every sailing man of the company knew, impossible" (Alexander 133). Shackleton's brilliant leadership and determination bring his men to safety from the brink of death, and his optimism keeps his crew believing that they can still survive. The diary entries of the crew leave nothing to speculation about the hardships of the men of the Endurance. From their lack of food and dry clothes, to the freezing Antarctic weather, the men of the Endurance survive for almost two years in a land not at all hospitable to humans.
As with every story, a picture is worth a thousand words. The breathtaking pictures by Frank Hurley put the reader right onto the ice with the crew. The reader can witness the sheer cliffs, never ending ice floes, and the break up of the Endurance, just as seen by the men of the ship themselves. Alexander truly puts the reader into the minds of the crew, and shows the Antarctic from the crew's eyes. This tale of survival brilliantly documents one of history's most daring stories of survival.
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