ANTARCTICA

“In 1912, as the ill-fated English explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott was leading his team back from their race to the South Pole, a six-member scientific team was stranded several hundred miles to the north. The Longest Winter is the definitive account of the men of the Northern Party, their desperation, and their heroic fight for survival in the Antarctic. Their full story is told here for the first time.” “Based on the unpublished diaries of the men, Katherine Lambert has woven together an inspirational story of survival. In particular, she uses the detailed diary of the man who came to be the hero of the party, Dr. Murray Levick, a naval surgeon. His day-to-day entries offer a rare glimpse into the psychology of a group of relative strangers who must depend on each other for survival while suffering through subzero weather, starvation, dysentery, and mental breakdowns. They lived in an igloo carved out of a snowdrift and survived on a small supply of seal blubber, penguin meat, biscuits, and chocolate. They attempted to keep their sanity by singing hymns and reading Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield aloud. After seven long months, the group embarked on a grueling, 37-day, 230-mile journey to an unknown end; yet all six men survived and made it back to base camp only to learn of the death of Captain Scott’s polar party.” “The Longest Winter is a gripping survival story of human fortitude in the face of almost certain death, and ultimately a testament to the indomitable spirit of Dr. Levick.”

Previously ed. published as: Hell with a capital H. London : Pimlico, 2002. With new introd.

xix, 236 p. : ill., map ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 220-229) and index.

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