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(More customer reviews)Literary and theater critic Rainer-K. Langner presents Scott and Amundsen: Duel in the Ice, the amazing and tragic tale of the rivalry between the leaders of the first two Antarctic expeditions to successfully reach the South Pole. Norwegian Roald Amundsen prepared meticulously by learning Polar survival skills from the native peoples of the Arctic; British citizen Captain Robert Falcon Scott had a very different perspective, valuing courage, endurance and immediate improvisation as the lynchpin to surmounting obstacles. Yet in January of 1912, when Scott and his four companions reached the South Pole, they discovered that Amundsen had beaten them by 34 days - and worse, Scott's misjudgments, and lack of knowledge had a cumulatively fatal effect, as his team died during the return journey - only 18 kilometers short of the supply depot that could have saved them. Part history, part dual biography, Scott and Amundsen retraces the journeys of both men thoroughly, reconstructing the final days of Scott's ill fate through his recovered diary. An absorbing slice of history that pays tribute to the courage, daring, and willingness to risk life and limb of both expeditions, while simultaneously dissecting the precise reasons why one team returned alive and triumphant, while the other did not. Highly recommended, especially for public library collections.
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On January 17, 1912, Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his four companions reached the South Pole. There they found a tent pitched by the Norwegian Roald Amundsen and in it a note for Scott, dated the previous month. The tragic drama of the British party's return journey, having been so cruelly beaten to the post in this chilling race to the Pole, only became known after their final camp was found in November 1912. They were just 18 kilometers short of safety. Scott's diary, ending with the wordsI do not think I can write any more , gave a graphic account of their sufferings, including the heroic suicide of Capt. Lawrence Oates. His comment on the Pole itself was unromantic:Great God! This is an awful place. In this double biography, Rainer K. Langner describes a duel in the eternal ice, a duel between planning and romanticism: "The race to the Pole was won in the head, it was in fact the solution of a logistical problem." Everything Amundsen did, he did right: he used dogs and skis, proceeded fast and had stored up enough energy reserves. Scott rejected dogs, his comrades were no expert skiers and he fatefully increased the number of men to go with him to five. Langner'sdescriptions and analysis are compelling reading as if he had been present at the time.
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