16 July 1872: Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer, is born in Borge, Østfeld, Norway.
Race to the End: Amundsen, Scott, and the Attainment of the South Pole
by Ross D. E. MacPhee
286 pages
Publisher: Sterling Innovation (2010)
Recommend for: Rhetoric students/Adults (but loaded with images everyone will enjoy)
Thoughts: This is a fantastic book that was written by the curator of the American Museum of Natural History's centennial exhibition "Race to the End of the Earth." All the hallmarks of a perfect book are here: original journal pages and photos from both expeditions as well as modern photos of artifacts, contemporary newspaper articles, maps of the routes followed by both groups, and sparkling writing that brings the race to life.
(see bottom for other suggested titles--lots and lots of them--probably more than anyone needs 😂)
Roald Amundsen lived his life, and eventually his death, as close to the geographic poles as he could. Born in Norway, he had a great respect for arctic native cultures and learned everything he could from them about surviving life on snow and ice. Although he was most famous for his expedition to the geographic South Pole, many don't realize that that journey was not his first to the continent nor that he had already secured a place for himself in the history books long before setting foot on Antarctica for the second time.
Amundsen took part in the Belgian Antarctic Expedition between 1897 and 1899. It was not the intent of this group to attempt the pole, but they ended up making history of another kind when their ship became trapped in the ice and they became the first expedition ever to over-winter in Antarctica. During that winter, the ship's doctor kept everyone stocked with fresh Antarctic meat--eating the meat of animals that must produce their own vitamin C helps prevent scurvy. Amundsen remembered that during his later expedition.
Between 1903 and 1906, Amundsen made history, this time in a leadership role, when he led the first successful journey through the Northwest Passage. The quest for just such a pathway through Canada from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific had been on for more than a century. It was during the two winters spent among the Inuit people of the Arctic that Amundsen learned the value of using sled dogs for transporting both people and goods and the superiority of animal skins and furs over wool for keeping people dry and warm. This, along with many other lessons, would be critical to the survival of his team in Antarctica.
In 1909, Amundsen was preparing for an attempt on the North Pole; however, upon hearing that American explorers Frederick Cook and Robert Peary were alleged to have reached that goal, Amundsen changed tack and decide to head for Antarctica instead. Knowing that Englishman Robert F. Scott was on a scientific expedition, then in Australia, whose final objective was South Pole, Amundsen did him the professional courtesy of sending Scott a telegram from Spain -- " ... proceeding Antarctica, Amundsen" -- that would set in motion perhaps history's greatest race, the race for the South Pole.
Amundsen would achieve his goal and plant the Norwegian flag in the ice at the geographic South Pole on 14 December 1911. Robert F. Peary and four others would arrive 33 days too late to claim their spot in history. Or so one might think. What really happened was far more complicated and tragic because those five men would never return, two perishing early in the return journey and Scott and the other two just eleven miles from their base camp. Nobody has ever disputed that the race's winner was Amundsen, but history hasn't been exactly kind to him.
Fellow explorers and historians alike are divided, with some feeling that it was unsportsmanlike of Amundsen to launch his own bid for the South Pole when it was clearly known that Scott, a well-respected and experienced explorer as well, was making an attempt. The two explorers' motivations were also very different, with Scott's journey of scientific exploration garnering far more admiration than Amundsen's less altruistic desire to simply be first. Much of the perception of history has also been affected by the fact that the Englishman's expedition was far better documented and widely published, all through the British lens of what was "becoming of a gentleman" and "sporting." In the eyes of the British, whose pride was admittedly injured, Amundsen's jumping in was just not the done thing. The fact that five lives were tragically lost and those men became almost mythologized as martyrs of a noble endeavor certainly didn't help Amundsen's position in history. However, as time has passed and more objective minds have weighed in, Amundsen has begun to get more of his due.
The fact is, whether or not Amundsen had been on the continent or not, those five men likely would have perished anyway (albeit with the glory of having achieved their goal of being first to reach the South Pole). Amundsen was far more meticulous in his preparations, and his respect of the knowledge of native people with regards to survival in extreme cold weather conditions ensured that every one of his men returned alive. Many historians and writers who view both men through an unbiased lens agree that Scott, although a very brave man with many fine leadership qualities, had the arrogance common to many British military officers (which he was--his expedition was government sponsored) at the time. He didn't think very highly of native populations--such as the Inuit that Amundsen learned so much from--and felt that the intellect of an educated Englishman could conquer any challenge, even a climate so completely at odds with that of his birth.
In 1926, Amundsen would be the second--by only three days--to fly over the North Pole in a dirigible. It was his turn for disappointment, as he so narrowly missed the record achieved by American Richard E. Byrd. However, history was once again kind to Amundsen when, in 1996, the diary kept by Byrd during the flight was found and it was revealed that Byrd actually turned back due to an oil leak, 150 miles short of his goal. When that diary was made public, Amundsen was given credit for being the first to fly over the North Pole.
Two years later, in 1928, Amundsen would tragically lose his own life while attempting to rescue an ill-prepared explorer whose own dirigible had crashed into Arctic waters near Spitsbergen, Norway.
The Race to the South Pole
by Ryan Nagelhout
Pages: 32
Series: Incredible True Adventures
Publisher: Gareth Stevens Publishing (2015)
Recommended for: Grammar students
Thoughts: This is an age-appropriate look at this historic journey, with full-color photos to introduce young readers to a continent they might not know much about. The focus is on showing young people that with training, grit, and courage they can do anything they set their sights on.
Roald Amundsen: The Conquest of the South Pole
by Julie Karner
Pages: 32
Series: In the Footsteps of Explorers
Publisher: Crabtree Publishing Company (2006)
Recommended for: Dialectic students
Thoughts: This is written at a slightly higher level than the above book, but it still is pretty basic. Unfortunately, there isn't a really good book for this level that is still in print. This book focuses on Amundsen's building of the skillset that got his team to the pole and back safely and first. Also highlighted is how he found the route they used, which was some 60 miles shorter than the one followed by Scott.
The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen
by Stephen R. Bown
Pages: 400
Publisher: Da Capo Press (2013)
Recommended for: Rhetoric students/adults
Thoughts: This is a not a fabulous biography, but it is definitely the best one for this age group. Bown is rather a bit too in love with his subject to be as objective as he should be, but he does keep the pace moving and captures Amundsen's complexities.
Have a Rhetoric student who wants to know more about Robert F. Scott, Amundsen's rival in Antarctica? There are two books I'd recommend:
The Worst Journey in the World
by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Pages: 640 (yes, it's not for the faint of heart)
Publisher: Penguin Classics (1922)
Recommended for: Rhetoric students/adults
Thoughts: Cherry-Garrard was a member of Captain Scott's expedition who, after returning alive from Antarctica, went onto the battlefields of the First World War. Finding himself mentally and emotionally trapped by so many horrible memories, he heeded the insistence of his neighbor, George Bernard Shaw, and wrote this account of the Scott expedition. The bulk of the memoir is actually upbeat, focusing on the scientific aspects of the expedition and the incredible strength and resilience of the human spirit in the face of some of the toughest circumstances earth put up in challenge. This account is the only contemporary one that gives a balanced accounting of Robert Scott.
Captain Scott
by Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Pages: 528 (trust me, it's worth it)
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (2004)
Recommended for: Rhetoric students/adults
Thoughts: Like Cherry-Garrard's book, this one is written by someone who has also been-there-and-done-that, albeit not during Amundsen's and Scott's time. Fiennes, without a doubt the finest polar explorer alive today, was the first to circumpolar navigate the globe on the surface--traveling from Greenwich, England south to the South Pole, then north to the North Pole, then south back to Greenwich. No air travel was used, only travel by land and sea. The journey took almost exactly three years, between September of 1979 and August of 1982. To date, nobody has replicated this feat. Fiennes, an outstanding author and chronicler of his own storied life, was in part motivated to write this biography as a result of Roland Huntford's book, which I talk about below. While it might be seen as one British explorer defending the legacy of another, Fiennes is acknowledged to be spot-on in his analysis of Scott.
Given the respect that I have for anyone who puts in the effort to write a full-length work of Rhetoric or adult nonfiction, I rarely do this, but there is one account I recommend your students avoid (unless they are specifically doing a nonfiction comparative study on a large scale, such as comparing this biography with those of Bown and Cherry-Garrard):
The Last Place on Earth: Scott and Amundsen's Race to the South Pole
by Roland Huntford
Pages: 640 (another doozy)
Publisher: Modern Library (1999)
Thoughts: While on the surface this appears to be a great dual biography that was revised and updated when certain original Norwegian sources surfaced, it is absolute rubbish as a balanced example of two parallel journeys. You would seriously think that Huntford's family had some kind of generations-long feud with the Scott family and had been paid a king's ransom by the Amundsen clan to write this book. In the years since its publication, much of what is presented here has been thoroughly debunked. Yes, I'm well aware the publisher is reputable, Jon Krakauer is the series editor, and Paul Theroux wrote the intro. There are way better ways for your students (or you) to spend 640 pages of your reading life.