The Last Great Quest by Max Jones

The Last Great Quest by Max Jones

Scott's last Antarctic expedition is one of the great adventure stories of the twentieth century. On 1 November 1911, a British team set out on the gruelling 800-mile journey across the coldest and highest continent on earth to the South Pole. Five men battled through unimaginably harsh conditions only to find the Norwegian flag planted at the Pole just weeks before. Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Lieutenant Henry Bowers, Petty Officer Edgar Evans, Captain Lawrence Oates, and Dr Edward Wilson all died on the return trek, starved and frozen to death, only eleven miles from a supply camp. In November 1912, a rescue party discovered their last letters and diaries, which told a story of bravery, hardship, and self-sacrifice that shocked the world. Recent decades have seen controversy rage over whether Scott was the last of a line of great Victorian explorers, intent on discovering uncharted lands, or a hopeless incompetent driven by personal ambition. Rejecting the stereotypes, Max Jones reveals a complex figure, a product of the passions and preoccupations of an imperial age. He also shows how heroes are made and manipulated, through a close examination of the unprecedented outpouring of public grief at the news of the death of Scott and his companions. Max Jones uses fascinating new evidence and previously unseen illustrations to take us back to this remarkable moment in modern history to tell for the first time, the full story of The Last Great Quest.

a mesmerising and superbly researched book Beryl Bainbridge, The Spectator a fascinating and wide-ranging study Anthony Sattin, The Sunday Times A meticulous examination..weaving record, anecdote and example with great skill, with some remarkable conclusions Duncan Spencer, Washington Times Jones sets out to disentangle the various strands of the Scott adventure. He is illuminating, too, on the evolution of exploration Justin Marozzi, Sunday Telegraph well written...likely to appeal to a wide audience Publishing News Excellent: the first serious historical account of Scott's ill-fated expedition David Cannadine The Last Great Quest throws a fascinating light on the Scott myth Andrew Taylor, Literary Review valuable and fascinating... Robert Carver, Times Literary Supplement

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780192804839
ISBN 10	0192804839
Title	The Last Great Quest
Author	Max Jones
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2003-10-09
Number of pages	368
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable