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1 of 1 copy available
"[Grann is] one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."—New York Magazine
Henry Worsley was a devoted husband and father and a decorated British special forces officer who believed in honor and sacrifice. He was also a man obsessed. He spent his life idolizing Ernest Shackleton, the nineteenth-century polar explorer, who tried to become the first person to reach the South Pole, and later sought to cross Antarctica on foot. Shackleton never completed his journeys, but he repeatedly rescued his men from certain death, and emerged as one of the greatest leaders in history.
Worsley felt an overpowering connection to those expeditions. He was related to one of Shackleton's men, Frank Worsley, and spent a fortune collecting artifacts from their epic treks across the continent. He modeled his military command on Shackleton's legendary skills and was determined to measure his own powers of endurance against them. He would succeed where Shackleton had failed, in the most brutal landscape in the world.
In 2008, Worsley set out across Antarctica with two other descendants of Shackleton's crew, battling the freezing, desolate landscape, life-threatening physical exhaustion, and hidden crevasses. Yet when he returned home he felt compelled to go back. On November 13, 2015, at age 55, Worsley bid farewell to his family and embarked on his most perilous quest: to walk across Antarctica alone. David Grann tells Worsley's remarkable story with the intensity and power that have led him to be called "simply the best narrative nonfiction writer working today." Illustrated with more than fifty stunning photographs from Worsley's and Shackleton's journeys, The White Darkness is both a gorgeous keepsake volume and a spellbinding story of courage, love, and a man pushing himself to the extremes of human capacity.
Look for David Grann’s latest bestselling book, The Wager!
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
October 30, 2018 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780385544580
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780385544580
- File size: 50379 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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November 15, 2018
Grann (Killers of the Flower Moon, an LJ Best Book) tells the story of an explorer's obsession with Antarctica that tested the limits of human endurance while captivating a nation. Henry Worsley was a British Special Forces officer whose fascination with legendary explorer Ernest Shackleton inspired the idea of finishing the journey his hero was unable to complete: reaching the South Pole by foot. Worsley completed this difficult feat by carrying hundreds of pounds of supplies through gale-force winds and sub-zero temperatures. His first polar expedition in 2008, with two descendants from Shackleton's team, marked the 100th anniversary of Shackleton's attempt. Worsley continued to feed his fascination by setting off on other polar adventures, which culminated in a solo, unassisted trek across the icy continent that tested him in difficult ways. Similar to Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption and David Roberts's Alone on the Ice, Grann's work solidifies Worsley as one of the great leaders and explorers of the modern age while also providing a fresh narrative of Shackleton's accomplishments. VERDICT This gripping and intimate story of adventure will appeal to Grann's fans and a wide general audience. [See Prepub Alert, 4/23/18.]--David Miller, Farmville P.L., NC
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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