A review by lurdesabruscato
The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander

5.0

I am fascinated with extraordinary stories of survival. I like to imagine at what part of the story I would bail, totally incapable of the hardships at hand. Incidentally, I wouldn't have made it past the prologue on this one. In the summer of 1914, a rough-and-tumble band of 28 sailors set out to accomplish one of the last great accomplishments of the period: the first crossing of the Antarctic on foot. Their ship was called the Endurance and endure they did: frigid temperatures, perilous waters, scant provisions, and, of course, icy landscapes that first trapped and then crushed their vessel. Their collective stories are amazing, yes -- even "chilling" -- but just as powerful are the eerily haunting black-and-white photographs courtesy of the bulky equipment salvaged by their pioneering photographer.