A gritty account of what went wrong when Shackleton was not in command. ( )

This is a very good book, with a frank view of what it was like to travel to/explore the Antarctic in the early 1900s. The emotions these men experienced were just unreal, and the dangers they faced - off the charts.

The book is similar to "The Worst Journey In The World" in its descriptions of Antarctic life for humans - but perhaps the author of this one was a bit more candid in describing the human interactions. In "Worst Journey", it appeared that relationships were generally harmonious among the party; in "Lost Men", relations among the men were laid bare, and while they generally got along - after all, they had a mission to accomplish - we find that there was also a considerable amount of discord among them, and on various levels. The book showed this through documentation from the party's diaries, some of which were kept scrupulously.

And to think, when all was said-and-done, it turned out this grueling human effort by the Ross Sea party was essentially unnecessary, since Shackleton never even disembarked on the other side of the continent. Of course, they had no way of knowing this with the non-existent communications of that era, and they were determined to accomplish the task set before them. And, that they did... amazingly.

Readers who don't mind a lot of attention to detail will like this book; and I highly recommend it for those who like adventure-type settings, with often-graphic descriptions of the effects of surviving in such a harsh environment. ( )

The descriptions of the conditions alone would make anyone wonder - why do this?

This was a wonderful story of a period of time when we were truly explorers. ( )

Tyler-Lewis has probably written the definitive account of this expedition. Her command of the sources is impressive and she brings to light a lot of new material. More so she focuses on the relationships between the expedition members, which ultimately is the most useful reason for reading these types of accounts, as lessons in leadership and group dynamics under difficult conditions that can be applied to our own lives. Ultimately though it lacks heroes, even when looked at with sympathy, so it doesn't have the epic feel of Scott or Shackleton. This is not surprising, most of the members were younger and of the "Lost Generation" (b. 1880-1900). It was the generation or two before them who would be heroes (Scott and Shackleton), who would cast a shadow over the "Lost" men of the Lost generation. Although ultimately this expedition paid a higher price than Shackleton's did (people died and they were under more severe physical hardship), and even though they accomplished their goal, unlike Shakcleton who never even set foot on Antarctica, they did so in a somewhat non-heroic manner, as the support team for Shackleton. Likewise Tyler-Lewis' book, while a model of historical scholarship, will linger on the shelves of specialists and hobbyist's but probably never break out into the wider audience like the larger than life stories of Shackleton and Scott.

--Review by Stephen Balbach, via CoolReading (c) 2008 cc-by-nd ( )