The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition

An excellent book, lavishly illustrated, which considerably enhances this absorbing tale of hardship and courage in bitter weather conditions, which would otherwise bt difficult to visualise.

Several days after purchasing Caroline Alexander's, "The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition" from Amazon.com, I read a few customer reviews that recommended Alfred Lansing's 1959 classic: "Endurance: Shakelton's Incredible Journey." These reviews extolled Lansing's book, and pointed-out how Alexander's was essentially a rewrite of this earlier work. Consequently, I also purchased his book, and thoroughly enjoyed reading the two of them while on vacation a few weeks ago. (I had already begun Alexander's book -- so, completed it before beginning Lansing's.)

Alexander's book has one (and only one) distinct and obvious advantage over Lansing's -- the inclusion of scores of the original expedition photographs taken by Frank Hurley (the ship's photographer). These photos are incredible and make Alexander's book indispensable to anyone interested in Shakelton's Endurance expedition.

That said -- here's why I gave her book only ONE STAR. In the Acknowledgements" section of her book, Alexander makes only a one sentence reference to Lansing's earlier work -- something to the effect of, "An exciting sea adventure." (although more elaborately stated).

Yet, Lansing's "Endurance: Shakelton's Incredible Journey" is a far better account of the Endurance expedition than is Alexander's -- better written, longer (maybe 50% more narrative), far more detailed in its entirety, much more interesting and exciting to read, PLUS: IT WAS FIRST..!!

It surprises me that Alexander paid no real tribute to Lansing's earlier work -- which in many respects seems to have been simply reworded by Alexander. There are, for certain, some substantive differences between the two books (owing the the large amount of source materials, including crew diaries) -- but, on the whole, these are not of real significance; and on balance, Lansing's book tells the entire story much better than Alexander's and is a much more exciting read.

So, buy them both -- Alexander's for the photographs and supplemental information and Lansing's for the tremendous narrative and historical significance. But please Caroline: Give credit where credit is due...

The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander has become one of the most treasured books on my shelf.

I never knew about the real Endurance adventure until I read an online review of this book, which piqued my interest. Much of the story is told by actual diaries that were kept by crew members. The courage and determination that it took to survive this event is beyond my imagination. Yet they were ordinary men who also had conflicts and weaknesses.

The Endurance was a ship of exploration that became frozen into the Antarctic ice. The ice ultimately crushed the vessel and stranded the crew, with no hope of rescue. This is the story of their survival.

One person on board was a professional photographer and he made photographs of all that happened. These photos appear in this book and are truly breathtaking. The best ones, to me, are of the ship all encrusted with shimmering ice. If you are interested in this story, I don't think you'll regret getting this beautiful book.

If you have any doubts as to the extreme limits of perseverance that humans (and life, for that matter) will go to survive, then read this true story. Even the toughest of you should be humbled by the courage, leadership, toil, risk-taking, and survival skills displayed by the men of the Endurance.

The upshot of the story is a crew of 27 men set sail on a ship called the Endurance to be the first to cross the Antarctica continent by foot. Their plans are cut short when the ice pack siezes their ship and the men are forced to live on the ship and then on the ice for a LONG time. With no chance for rescue, the men know that their fate lies in their hands.

Several books have been written about the Endurance adventure. I couldn't imagine the others being any better than this one. The story tells itself and stands alone so little side commentary is needed or provided. The pictures in this hard-cover edition are fabulous and add to the story.

And, I might add, this book would certainly give hope to anyone stuck in a bad situation.

I could not put this book down. It humbles me to think that men like this have existed in this world. Every petty trouble melts away when compared to the Shackleton crew. The photographs are also great. Caroline Alexander did wonderful job!