South
The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-1917
Ernest Shackleton 1919
This firsthand account follows an Antarctic expedition whose ship, Endurance, was crushed by ice. It recounts Shackleton's journey across stormy seas in a small boat to seek rescue for his stranded crew.
541 pages 10h 30m reading time
- One of the most famous survival stories ever told, and a classic of polar exploration writing.
- Shows that a leader's first duty is to bring every person home alive, even when the original goal has failed.
- Tells how calm planning, shared hardship, and steady hope kept a group of men alive through months of cold, hunger, and danger.
- Made Shackleton a lasting model of leadership in a crisis, and business schools and military training programs still study his choices.
- Helped inspire many later books, films, and documentaries about the Endurance expedition, which remains one of the best-known stories of the age of polar exploration.
Shaped by a ghostwriter
Shackleton told much of the story aloud to New Zealand journalist Edward Saunders, who helped turn it into prose.
Profits went to debts
The expedition had left Shackleton deeply in debt, so the book's earnings went to creditors and he gained almost nothing.
Delayed by world war
The crew came home during the First World War, and Shackleton published only after the fighting ended.
Photos saved from ice
Frank Hurley's pictures in the book survived because he chose about 120 glass plates to keep and smashed the rest.