Author Description

"Of all the expeditions that took place in the so-called 'heroic era' of Antarctic exploration, two stand out in terms of raw, sustained survival and the triumph of the human spirit set against seemingly impossible odds. One is Sir Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911 to 1914. The other is Sir Ernest Shackleton's unsuccessful attempt to cross the Antarctic continent during the years 1914 to 1916 and the extraordinary survival of his entire party after the expedition's ship, Endurance, was crushed and sunk in the pack ice." "This edition includes both accounts and has stunning black-and-white images by the Australian photography Frank Hurley which convey the majestic splendour of some of the most inhospitable terrain on earth. Both books offer an insider's account of what is what like to be there - the smell, feel and flavour of high adventure and sustained, icy terror as the explorers pitted themselves against the fury of the elements on their journey to the edge of the world."--BOOK JACKET.