ePub Zuni Ceremonialism by Ruth Leah Bunzel in History

Description

This book covers the two most famous expeditions of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration; Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova expedition of 1910-12 and Ernest Shackleton's Endurance expedition of 1914-16. For decades after his tragic death on the return journey from the South Pole; to which he had been beaten by five weeks by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen; Scott was regarded as a saint-like figure with an unassailable reputation born from his heroic martyrdom in the frozen wastes of the Antarctic. In recent years; however; Scott has attracted some of the most intense criticism any explorer has ever received. Shackleton's reputation; meanwhile; has followed a reverse trajectory. Although his achievements were always appreciated; they were never celebrated with nearly the same degree of adulation that traditionally surrounded Scott. Today; Scott and Shackleton occupy very different places in the polar pantheon of British heroes. Stephanie Barczewski explores the evolution of their reputations; and finds it has little to do with new discoveries regarding their lives and characters; but far more to do with broader cultural changes and changes in conceptions of heroism in Britain and the United States.