Australian journalist FitzSimons (Charles Kingsford Smith and Those Magnificent Men) revisits the "heroic age of exploration," and in particular the quest from 1907 to 1914 to reach Earth's geographic South Pole. FitzSimons interweaves the narratives of Antarctic explorers Douglas Mawson, Roald Amundsen, Ernest Shackleton, Robert Scott, and their teams as they trek and winter their way through Antarctica. Mawson (1882-1958) was part of the first team to reach the South Magnetic Pole and was the sole survivor of the Far Eastern exploration party, enduring a monthlong, 100-mile journey alone back to base camp. This thoroughly researched account brings the early Antarctic explorers to life through newspaper headlines, journal entries, and telegrams, all delivered as if in real time. VERDICT Although this is a story of heroic feats, it gathers its force via its smaller details-how Antarctic winters shatter teeth or the way Mawson writes to his lover at home. Readers of biography, history, adventure, and scientific exploration will all find something rewarding in this book.-Talea Anderson, Walla Walla, WA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.