South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage Review

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(More customer reviews)It's tough to criticize a book written by the man himself and say that other books are somehow better, despite the fact that these writers did not participate in the journey. But unfortunately, that is the case. If you're a real Shackleton fan, you'll want to read this book only as background after taking on works by Caroline Alexander or Alfred Lansing.
In comparison, 'South' has the following shortcomings:
1. The writing style is impenetrable & stilted. It has not aged well in the 80+ years since it was put down on paper.
2. The misuse of Frank Hurley's photographs is annoying - they're out-of-focus, oddly chosen and misplaced in sequence in the book. See Alexander's book for a revelation of the power and majesty of Hurley's work.
3. You only get Shackleton's point of view here. Lansing and Alexander pull together the journals of many particpants and you get a real flavor of the men that comprise the crew. Here, you get only Sir Ernest, dispensing some kind words about each member, last name only, no background info. The other books tell you quite a bit about flawed characters like McNish and Lees.

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Farthest North (Modern Library Exploration) Review

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(More customer reviews)This review is in reference to the original two volume set of Nansen's "Farthest North" published in 1897. The Modern Library abridged edition is drawn from that set.
Nansen and 12 colleagues left Norway and sailed north in the Arctic Ocean above Siberia in 1893. Their purpose was to become frozen in the ice as it formed farther and farther south in the fall. Based on historical evidence from other attempts at far-north Arctic Ocean exploration, Nansen had decided that the flow of currents and winds in the Arctic Ocean were such that a frozen-in vessel that began above the Siberian Islands would drift northward with the ice across the North Pole over the next year or so. His goal therefore was to be the first to the North Pole. He planned for a expedition of as long as three years.
These Arctic explorers' ship was a specially designed vessel, the Fram. Her construction was such that when trapped in the frozen ice, which had extremely variable depths and especially pressures, the ship would rise up above the swelling pack ice and avoid being crushed. The success of the ship's design was absolutely spectacular. This should be compared to the fate of the Endurance, Shackleton's ship (described in his book "South"), which was trapped in the Antarctic ice and crushed, more that 17 years after Nansen's memoir was published.
Nansen's great success with sled dogs and sled designs published in the original memoir in 1897 adds credence to the relatively recent indictment (see Huntford) of the English Explorer Robert Scott who still disregarded the intense use of sled dogs in his 1910-12 Antarctic effort to reach the South Pole. Scott and four others basically die because of his ignorance/misunderstanding of the value of sled dogs, 15 years after Nansen details his successes with them on this expedition.
Fridtjof Nansen's writing style is clear, interesting, and very engaging. He was obviously a first-rate, experienced explorer (having crossed lower Greenland in 1888) and yet, at the same time, someone who recognized that there is something special going on around him. He documents-via journal entries-his daily observations and feelings about the physical conditions, the people, and even the sled dogs born during the adventure. There are records of supplies, food, ocean depths, temperatures, drift direction and distances, wind speed, ice thickness, bear attacks, a fantastic two-person trek by dog sled, and beautiful and sometimes emotional details of the aurora borealis. The original two volume set includes photographs and drawings made from photographs taken on the trip. Also a fine set of maps clearly showed the route of the expedition. Some of these must be included in the Modern Library's abridged version.
In comparison to the dry, guarded writing styles of Cherry-Garrard's "The Worst Journey in the World" or Shackleton's "South" this book is easier to read even though it too describes many terrifying situations and yet wonderful, hard-won successes. Nansen was just a better writer with more descriptive writing under his belt and possibly better initial plans for the book that would be produced from his experiences.
This book is a must for readers interested in polar exploration. Period.

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When God Looked the Other Way: An Odyssey of War, Exile, and Redemption Review

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(More customer reviews)The teaching of history is often distorted by selective presentation of past events. Virtually everyone has heard of the 5-6 million Jews killed by the Germans. Few outside Polish circles have a clue about the fact that 2-3 million gentile Poles were also murdered by the Germans, and a few hundred thousand by the Soviets--first as Poland's sworn enemy and then as an "ally". While Churchill and Roosevelt were dilly-dallying with "Uncle Joe" Stalin, he was still murdering Poles and executing his plans to deprive "liberated" Poland from her rightful independence, freedom, and sovereignity. The western powers shamelessly disregarded the Atlantic Charter and betrayed the Poles--who all along had been fighting on their side on just about every front, and who had played a significant, if not decisive, role in preventing the Luftwaffe from achieving air supremacy over the English skies as a prelude to the planned German invasion (Operation Sea Lion).
This work provides an absorbing personal account of the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Poles by the Soviet Union following the German-Soviet conquest of Poland in 1939. Wes Adamczyk, then a boy of 7, was to lose his father in the infamous Katyn Massacre, and his entire family was uprooted and sent to a living death in Kazakhstan. He was one of the lucky few to be released and to eventually find his way to a new life in the United States. Decades later, he fulfilled his wish to visit the site of his father's murder near Smolensk, Russia.
The reader is exposed to the brutality of the Soviet police as they ransack the Adamczyk home, destroy objects related to Polish patriotism, and herd the family ("enemies of the people") into overcrowded trains for the fateful trip east. Every day becomes a battle for survival. They are near starvation. However, individual Kazakhs and Russians show friendship towards the Poles. The young Adamczyk befriends Mr. Petrovitch on a fishing boat. The moving account tells how the elderly Russian teaches the boy the truth about Communism. It is lies on top of lies on top of lies. In fact, the continued spying by the Soviet police on the captive Poles does not stem from the fact that they suspect that the Poles may escape or revolt. The spying comes from the fear that the locals may learn the truth about the outside world from the Poles--that the non-
Communist world is not rotten, and that the Soviet Union is no workers' paradise.
Nazi Germany turns against its erstwhile Soviet ally, creating a chance for the Poles, consigned to eventual death from starvation, overwork, and disease, to escape the Gulag. Negotiations "succeed" in securing the release of captive Poles. But the Soviets drag their feet, and only a fraction of still-living captive Poles end up being released. The Adamczyk family has to stage a near-escape adventure to reach Iran. The squalor of the just-freed Poles is indescribable. Thousands die right there, including Wes Adamczyk's mother--ironically just a short time after having finally left the clutches of the Soviet hell.
Tens of thousands of previously-captured Polish officers are found to be conspicuously and unexpectedly missing, and the Soviets say, "They all escaped to Manchuria". As time drags on, the Adamczyks realize the fate of their father and the remainder of the POWs. The Soviets don't admit responsibility for the Katyn Massacre until 1990. The long cover-up by western governments is little better than the decades-long Soviet one. The west needed a second coverup to cover its first coverup of the conspiracy of silence about this heinous Soviet crime.
The Adamczyks, like all surviving Poles, get a cruel blow when they learn that Roosevelt and Churchill have betrayed their faithful ally Poland by giving away eastern Poland to the Russians, and allowed a Communist puppet state to be forced on the rest of "liberated" Poland. In a sense, all of the Polish sufferings and sacrifices turn out to have been in vain. The Adamczyks, and millions of other Poles, have no home to return to. The only "happy ending" is a new life in America.


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In the Land of White Death: An Epic Story of Survival in the Siberian Arctic Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a worthwhile read if you enjoy harrowing stories of near-death polar adventures. It's amazing that Albanov survived. His book is a combination of excerpts from his detailed diary and elaborations he added after the fact, supplemented by an informational preface from the publisher who recently discovered his almost-forgotten manuscript.
If you have already read "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" by Alfred Lansing, this book isn't quite as good, but it is an interesting contrast. (If you haven't, put Endurance on your must-read list!) The challenges faced were similar, though not quite as extended in Albanov's case.
This story starts in much the same way as the Endurance - a ship trapped in pack ice (though in this case in the Arctic). But this is where the story diverges. The biggest difference that you learn up-front is that only two people survived (compared to the whole crew on the Endurance!)
Albanov is the navigator but does not get along with the captain. As a result, after two winters (!) enduring their relationship and the worsening conditions, he asks for permission to build a kayak and sledge from scrap and set out on his own in search of land. Much to his disappointment, however, half the crew (even many of the weaker ones) ask to accompany him.
Their destination is "Cape Flora" about 120 miles away across pack ice. According to a polar explorer's diary from decades ago, Cape Flora once had a shelter and supplies. But they really don't even know if it still exists and exactly how to get there. And if it is still there - what then? But Albanov is able to focus on the immediate goal and not worry about the what if's.
Interestingly, the crew was not a group of explorers anticipating adventure, but opportunists looking to make money in the walrus-hunting trade. This could have contributed to their low survival rate. Albanov complains about his companions a lot - their laziness, stupidity. But from Albanov's first hand account, the reader can infer that he was a loner. I couldn't help but wonder whether a leader like Shackleton could have brought out the best in the group and had a higher chance of surviving.
Anyway, it is truly amazing that Albanov and one of his companions survive all the crazy challenges they are delt - snowblidness, hunger, cold, scurvy, lack of maps, drifting pack ice, angry walruses, almost drowning, and so on.
This is a short book, and a good page-turner. Although it's not as good as Endurance, it's still a good read.

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Antarctica: Both Heaven and Hell Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is very uneven, unfortunately. On one side, photography is splendid, historical and geological discussion are very thorough, the spirit of adventure is live and well. However, I am TIRED to find Messner complaining about his partner on every single page. And the translation is so bad, that one can almost study German grammar from the English presented.
The philosophical expositions in the book kept my feelings mixed as well. On one side (and perhaps this is due to a poor translation) it is full of heavy and sometimes overly sweet German Romanticism; one the other hand, Messner's treatment of the white void in front of him as a meditative medium is very honestly portrayed and splendidly presented.

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