South (Shackleton's Last Expedition): Illustrated 100th Anniversary Edition

Only read the first chapter and very good so far 😊

A great book but not actually written by Shackleton himself - he had a ghost writer who was not acknowledged.It was ghostwritten by New Zealand journalist Edward Saunders who had also helped Shackleton write 'The Heart of the Antarctic', an account of his 1907-1909 Nimrod expedition.

I'm not sure why, but I half expected Shackleton's own recounting of his Antarctic expedition to be a dry affair, or perhaps even a self-aggrandising one. I couldn't have been more wrong on either count. His writing is clear and to the point, yes, liberally dotted with longitudes and latitudes, temperatures and food quantities. But it also fills in the human side of these numbers with considerable skill, immersing the reader in the triumphs and tragedies, the frost-bites and hot teas. But, perhaps most of all, it shows Shackleton's love, admiration, and keen responsibility for the men he commanded - even when writing of his own incredible heroics he is self-effacing, putting them first and foremost.And, tellingly, nowhere in South does he feel the need to apologise for their suffering and tragedies, nowhere does he offer excuses. He sees the expedition, even in its failure in achieving the main objective of crossing the Antarctic continent from coast to coast, as, ultimately, the triumph of human fortitude and endeavour that it absolutely was.South covers the initial sailing from South Georgia, the Endurance's ice entrapment and her eventual sinking, the crew's march pulling wooden boats over treacherous flows to find solid land and open water, Shackleton's journey over sea and South Georgia’s glaciers to seek help, and the eventual rescue of his stranded men. It also covers the other side of this two-part expedition: the sledging teams of the Aurora, laying supply depots in desperate -and ultimately tragic- conditions for Shackleton’s assumed overland attempt; and the Aurora’s own freezing-in, left at the mercy of Antarctic winds and currents.Read in conjunction with a decent Shackleton biography -I recommend Roland Huntford’s- for an overview of the man and the times (for there is little or none of that in South).Superb, and not just because it happened.

Its a good book ,but I expected it to have a sleeve ? hard backs don,t seem right without one.

Considering this was a special 100th Anniversary Edition of this book.I was very disappointed. The pages do not lay flat and the book itself is warped. The illustrations are nowhere as good a quality as shown on the read sample. The written text itself by Shackleton is very well written, interesting, flowing and easy to read, for this I would give 5 stars. However the poor quality of this book in my view let this edition down.

"South" is an excellent read. It is like reading directly from his personal journal. There is not any"fluff" or unnecessary descriptions. Everything is short and to the point. I enjoyed the writing style because I don't like very much wasted descriptions. For example, The size, weight, and style of the ship is good information to know The color, tones, the width of the lumber, etc. are more details than I want to know. I completely enjoyed the masculine tone and writing style.

I read this book years earlier and bought this copy as a birthday gift for a family member. It’s a true story of adventure bravery and yes Endurance, the name of Shacleton’s ship. Coincidently, just recently after having been “lost” for more than a hundred years, the Endurance was found. A truly great story.

Very good and in Unused Condition!

Great

I appreciated having a hardcover of this book but the binding is cheap and clearly a POD product and so I felt a bit cheated on quality.