Scott of the Antarctic

This is the definitive biography of Captain Scott – the pivotal figure in pre-First World War Antarctic exploration. Crane’s beautifully written and illustrated book re-examines the courage and tragedy of Scott’s expedition and reasserts his position in the pantheon of British heroes.


David Crane’s remarkable book sets out to discover the real Captain Scott, and rejects the common orthodoxies that surround his name to grapple with the personality behind the legend. In doing so, Crane is able to reach the most moving aspects of Scott’s life: the moral courage and basic decency exhibited in a life lived on the crumbling fringes of gentility at the turn of the century.


Crane’s biography of Scott will rescue a maligned figure and restore him to his proper place in history.


By reassessing Scott’s life and his huge scientific achievements, Crane is able to provide a fresh and exciting perspective on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The heroism and tragedy of Scott’s last journey are only one part of the process, for the scientific enquiry that led up to it transformed the whole nature and ambition of Antarctic exploration.


With the full access to family papers, and the voluminous diaries and records of key participants, including admiring scientists, this is a fabulous book that sets out to reconcile the very private struggles of the man with the very public life of extremes that he led.