The white darkness

Grann's best-selling true-crime history, Killers of the Flower Moon (2017), appeared on nearly every 2017 best-of list and was a finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal and the National Book Award. First published earlier this year as a long article in the New Yorker, where Grann is a staff writer, his latest will remind readers of The Lost City of Z (2009), his chronicle of early twentieth-century explorer Percy Fawcett's obsessive search for an ancient civilization in the Amazon. From childhood, Henry Worsley nurtured a lifelong fascination with polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, whose thirst for heroic adventure became Worsley's own and whose leadership Worsley emulated as an officer in Britain's elite Special Air Service. In 2008, after his retirement, Worsley and two other men completed the journey to the South Pole that Shackleton famously abandoned just short of his goal, for the safety of his crew. This expedition led to others, fatefully including the unprecedented solo Antarctic crossing Worsley undertook in 2016. Building suspense even as readers know the ending, Grann weaves tales of historic expeditions into his dimensional portrait of the driven Worsley. Seeing Grann's name on the cover of this slight book, readers might just sit down and tear through its pages and gorgeous photographs before even leaving the library; and, indeed, Grann works his narrative magic on Worsley's adventures, their dizzying dangers, and the ""majestic deathscape"" of the Antarctic.--Annie Bostrom Copyright 2018 Booklist

Grann (The Lost City of Z) chronicles the story of Henry Worsley, a British special forces officer who was obsessed with the adventures of Ernest Shackleton and the exploration of Antarctica. Worsley not only read everything he could find about Shackleton, he collected artifacts and communicated with other individuals with the same interests and who, like Worsley, were related to those who served with Shackleton. Worsley's military career reflected his dedication and devotion to a cause, characteristics that propelled Worsley's own attempt to walk across Antarctica to the South Pole. He and two other descendants of Shackleton's crew successfully completed the journey in 2008. In 2015, at the age of 56, Worsley attempted to walk across Antarctica alone. VERDICT Grann's vivid, descriptive writing together with the passionate reading by Will Patton make this an outstanding listen. A modern-day hero dedicated to a goal is much needed in today's society. ["Solidifies Worsley as one of the great leaders and explorers of the modern age who has pushed the limits of human achievement, while also providing a fresh narrative of Shackleton's accomplishments": LJ 11/15/18 review of the Doubleday hc.]-Patricia Ann Owens, formerly with Illinois Eastern Community Coll., Mt. Carmel © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.