The Last Viking
The Extraordinary Life of Roald Amundsen
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The discoverer of the South Pole and the first explorer to reach the North Pole, Amundsen's exploits entertained the world for decades during the early 20th century. But today he is arguably less well-known than his contemporary Ernest Shackleton, a situation that Bown aims to rectify with this captivating account of the Norwegian's extraordinary life. Amundsen's drive to witness the undiscovered began in childhood, when he would sleep with the windows open to acclimate to the cold and ski during snowstorms through the hills and mountains near Oslo to prepare for future harsh unknowns. He dropped out of university to acquire sailing experience and ultimately become a sea captain, enabling him to command his own ship. Amundsen treated his first expedition, the crossing of the Northwest Passage, like a military operation, an approach he'd employ in all of his adventures, anticipating nearly every possible complication or mishap. This painstaking method allowed him to prevail time and again whether that involved keeping his crew alive while wintering for two years in the Arctic ice or beating better-financed competitors. Years later, he again surmounted huge obstacles, securing critical financing for a nearly aborted North Pole expedition and overcoming near bankruptcy, press hostility, and family feuding. Bown makes a compelling case that Amundsen deserves renewed recognition for his outstanding achievements.
