This splendid omnibus combines The Heart of the Antarctic and South, Ernest Shackleton's personal accounts of his polar expeditions. The Heart of the Antarctic is the story of his expedition of 1907-09, part of his never-ending quest to reach the South Pole. With photographs taken on the expedition by Douglas Mawson, and numerous maps and diagrams, this is a fascinating record of one of the most daring feats of exploration of all time and the only complete edition in print. South is Shackleton's account of a journey that began in August 1914 with high hopes of a first in exploration and ended two years later in a desperate struggle for survival, after the expedition's ship, the Endurance, was first trapped in sea-ice, then crushed. Shackleton, with a handful of his party, braved the fury of the South Atlantic as they made their desperate 800-mile journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia aboard the James Caird. This small boat - just over twenty feet long - was pitted against the fury of the southern ocean. The survival of the entire expedition was hinged on this last gamble ... Sir Ernest Shackleton was one of the greatest and most colourful explorers of his time. Born in County Kildare in 1874, he was educated at Dulwich College, London, and apprenticed in the Merchant Navy before becoming a junior officer under Captain Robert Scott, on the Discovery, between 1901 and 1904. From this point on, his life was devoted to polar exploration. He died in South Georgia in 1922 while on his fourth Antarctic expedition. Men go out into the void spaces of the world for various reasons. Some are actuated simply by a love of adventure, some have the keen thirst for scientific knowledge, and others again are drawn away from the trodden paths by the lure of 'little voices', the mysterious fascination of the unknown. I think that in my own case it was a combination of these factors that determined me to try my fortune again in the frozen south. - Sir Ernest Shackleton 'A more interesting book on polar exploration ... has yet to be written' - New York Times Book Review 'The best book of Polar travel which has ever been written' - The Guardian