One hundred years have passed since Robert Falcon Scott’ s beleagured expeditionary team arrived at the South Pole, only to find that they had been beaten by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.
The most feted explorer of his generation, Amundsen counted the discovery of the Northwest Passage, in 1905, as well as the North Pole amongst his greatest achievements. In the golden age of polar exploration Amundsen, whose revolutionary approach to technology transcends polar and nautical significance, was a titan among men. However, until now, his story has rarely featured as more than a footnote to Scott’ s tragic failure.
Reviled for defeating Scott but worshipped by his men, Amundsen was pursued by women and creditors throughout his life before disappearing on a rescue mission for the Italian Fascist who had set off in an airship to claim the North Pole for Mussolini. The Last Viking is the life of a visionary and a showman, who brought the era of Shackleton to an end, put the newly independent Norway on the map and was the twentieth century’ s brightest trailblazing explorer.
Against the backdrop of the race to conquer the most inhospitable corners of the earth, The Last Viking stands alongside The Worst Journey in the World for its grim immediacy of heroism and hardship. Bestriding the generation defined by adventure and the unquenchable desire for discovery, it is the mesmerising story of courage, misery, friendship and the ultimate price paid for immortality.
'Stephen Bown delivers an intensely researched, thoroughly enjoyable life of one history’ s best explorers.A superb biography of a fiercely driven explorer who traveled across the last inaccessible areas on earth before technical advances made the journey much easier.'
'An enjoyable and informative biography'
'Captivating...Bown makes a compelling case that Amundsen deserves renewed recognition for his outstanding achievements.'
‘ Fascinating biography. As a depiction of an explorer’ s life however, it is intelligent and often thrilling. Perhaps it is time for the British to jettison their pique, and learn to admire this complex and deeply modern figure.’
This work is a lovingly written tribute to one of humankind's greatest thrillseekers
'Mr. Bown has produced a solid, entertaining account of Amundsen's adventures, through which he scrolls with pleasing attention to detail. This is a real "Boy's Own" narrative, one that conjures the rasp of hickory ski on thin ice, the patter of a hundred dogs, and the whiff of tobacco after a long day on the trail.'
'The work is sharp-eyed, thorough and convincing, and constitutes a significant addition to the Arctic canon.'
Overall this is a well-researched volume and a jolly good read
Stephen Brown celebrates this pioneering explorere and redresses the balance of an enigmatic man who was a footnote to another story for far too long
