Book description
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.
