The last great quest : Captain Scott's Antarctic sacrifice /

Jones asks one major question involving Captain Robert Scott's expedition: Why did the death of Scott and four other men on the return trek from the South Pole cause such a sensation 90 years ago, not only in Britain. but around the world? In answering, the book challenges several stereotypes about Scott's story: that Scott's scientific aims were a facade, concealing his primary concern with national glory; that Scott chose not to take additional dogs to the Antarctic, because he considered manhauling more noble; that Roald Amundsen's achievement went largely unacknowledged in\b Britain; that the celebration of Scott's death was motivated by hurt national pride; that the British were unique in their glorification of suffering and failure, reveling in Scott's reliance on men over dogs; and that Scott's heroic reputation grew out of an establishment conspiracy, which suppressed details of his incompetence and created the legend of Scott through the skillful editing of his sledging journal. Drawing on records from the Royal Geographical Society and the Scott Polar Research Institute, his arguments are indisputable, his research impeccable. --George Cohen Copyright 2003 Booklist

In an earnest attempt to add a compelling new dimension to the story of Capt. Robert F. Scott's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole in 1911, Jones, a University of Manchester lecturer, instead becomes bogged down in miscellany. Scott and his team's deaths on the frigid Antarctic expanse as they made the 800-mile journey back to their ship after discovering they'd been beaten to the Pole by Roald Amundsen almost a month earlier has proven rich book fodder over the last 92 years. Jones eschews straight biography or adventure narrative to provide what he sees as a needed cultural context for Scott's voyage and its aftermath. He writes, "The legendary figures who first ventured into the unknown remain impenetrable, unless we apprehend the world which made them." To recreate that world, Jones begins with a detailed history of the establishment of the Royal Geographic Society, sponsor of many of the great British explorers, and concludes with an examination of British heroes in the first part of the 20th century, connecting Scott to Dr. Livingstone and Robert Peary. In between, the book makes thorough examinations of such disparate and seemingly irrelevant topics as the raising of money for and the erection of monuments to Scott and his party, and the fierce public debate over the admission of women to the RGS. The result, unfortunately, is a jumble. Jones has done some admirable research of primary sources, but he lacks the organizational acuity to make this a convincing book. 60 photos not seen by PW. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

On February 10, 1913, news reached London that Capt. Robert Scott's polar party had died returning from the South Pole nearly a year earlier. This caused an immediate worldwide sensation. Jones here considers why Scott's death caused such fervor and how it affected the British generation that would fight in the Great War while challenging many British Antarctic Expedition (BAE) stereotypes, such as the manhauling of sledges. Jones bases his arguments on unused papers from the Public Record Office, the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), and the Scott Polar Research Institute and on periodicals and newspapers that covered the BAE disaster. Conscious of the British Empire's decline, many saw the deaths of Scott, Petty Officer Edgar Evans, Dr. Edward Wilson, Capt. Lawrence Oates, and Lt. Henry Bowers as a reflection of core British values: bravery, loyalty, selflessness, hardiness, and persistence. These same values allowed completely disparate groups with conflicting agendas to call upon Scott and his fallen comrades as a symbol, whether they were pacifists, militant suffragettes, or Irish republicans. Jones also explores how Edwardian prejudices and beliefs molded Scott, the RGS, and, ultimately, the BAE itself. Recommended for larger exploration and Britannia collections.-Margaret Atwater-Singer, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.