This accursed land

Riveting chronicles of the Amundsen, Scott expeditions to the Antarctic, with vivid descriptions of the numbing cold, and vicious winds that howl unceasingly over the frozen tundra. The tragedy which befell these brave explorers was magnified in it's effect by their extreme remoteness from any civilization. This was the epitomy of worst case scenarios for exploration of the poles. And one came back! A magnificent tale of tragedy and triumph in the pursuit of knowledge.

I have bought three copies of this book from out-of-print resellers because I was looking for it under its original title, Mawson's Will. I wanted to give it to several people and was willing to make an extraordinary effort to locate copies and pay a premium for them.

Many years ago, while working in the Outback, I was told the story of Douglas Mawson by one of my companions. Bickel's book does justice to the most incredible survival story I have ever read. You realize that, if Mawson had gone with Robert Scott to the South Pole and back, he would have made it to One Ton Cache and returned with food and fuel, and that Scott's men would all have lived to be old men in Devon instead of perishing on the ice in the Antarctic. This book gets a read every couple of years - partly as it is a great and well crafted story and partly because I can't believe that Mawson survived the journey.

That person who dubbed Joe Simpson's ordeal in "Touching the Void" as " the greatest survival epic ever told" has clearly never heard (nor read) of Douglas Mawson. I'm not surprised, neither had I until I read Ran Fiennes' "Mind over Matter". But pick up Bickel's masterful work of reconstructive journalism and you won't put it down... well not until you've staggered breathlessly through this awe stickening narrative of one man's will to survive against all odds. The book details the first Australian bid to discover the Magnetic South Pole...and how it all went terribly awry for three of the expedition members. Experience every last tortured step of Douglas Mawson as he battles against the elements, prey to the most horrific of dietary privations and a relentless madness brought on by consuming the livers of his dogs. "This Accursed Land" is a tribute to the rarest of human characteristics, the will to survive when survival is no longer an option..