Shackleton's Dream

Fuchs, Hillary and the Crossing of Antarctica

Stephen Haddelsey

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English

HISTORY PRESS
01 February 2023

History of other lands; 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; Travel & holiday; Expeditions

In November 1915, Sir Ernest Shackleton watched horrified as the grinding floes of the Weddell Sea squeezed the life from his ship, Endurance, before letting her slip silently down to her last resting place. Caught in the chaos of splintered wood, buckled metalwork and tangled rigging lay Shackleton's dream of being the first man to complete the crossing of Antarctica. Shackleton would not live to make a second attempt but his dream lived on. Shackleton's Dream tells for the first time the story of the British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, led by Vivian Fuchs and Sir Edmund Hillary. Forty years after the loss of Endurance, they set out to succeed where Shackleton had so heroically failed. Using motor-sledges and converted farm tractors, they faced a colossal challenge: a perilous 2,000-mile journey across the most demanding landscape on the planet, where temperatures can plunge to a staggering -90°C and bitter katabatic winds rush down from the high Polar Plateau.

This epic adventure saw two giants of twentieth-century exploration pitted not only against Nature at her most hostile, but also against each other. From their coastal bases on opposite sides of Antarctica, the two leaders pushed south, the expedition developing into a dramatic 'Race to the South Pole'.

AUTHOR: Stephen Haddelsey is the author of two books for The History Press, Ice Captain: The Life of Joseph Russell Stenhouse, and Born Adventurer: The Life of Frank Bickerton, Antarctic Pioneer. He has also contributed to six titles in the Penguin Historical Atlas series. He lives in Nottinghamshire.

30 b/w illustrations

By: Stephen Haddelsey
Imprint: HISTORY PRESS
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm,
ISBN: 9781803991665
ISBN 10: 1803991666
Publication Date: 01 February 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Unspecified

STEPHEN HADDELSEY is the author of many books on Antarctic exploration history, including 'Ice Captain', 'Born Adventurer' and 'Icy Graves', as well as other topics. He lives in Nottinghamshire.

Reviews for Shackleton's Dream: Fuchs, Hillary and the Crossing of Antarctica

'Extraordinary. A story that will prove to anyone who doubts it, that courage, determination, danger and disaster remain as much a part of Antarctic exploration in the Modern Age as in the Heroic Era' -- Sir Ranulph Fiennes -- Sir Ranulph Fiennes