Flaws in the Ice

in search of Douglas Mawson
David Day

'[A]n excellent, excoriating and long-overdue account of Mawson's 1911 -14 Antarctic expedition.

Pater Goers, Sunday Mail

'While Day's tone is always measured, and his claims backed up by primary sources, his icy rendering of Mawson will undoubtedly prove controversial among Antarctic historians ... but for the ordinary reader, the tale of a hero succumbing to his all-consuming monomania may prove irresistible.'

Gillian Terzis, Weekend Australian

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'[A] briskly paced and confrontingly visceral account indicating just how tough it would have been to attempt what the Antarctic explorers set out to do'

Simon Caterson, Saturday Age

In Flaws in the Ice, prize-winning historian David Day searches for the real Douglas Mawson. After travelling south on his own six-week odyssey to the Antarctic, the author answers the difficult questions about Mawson that have hitherto lain buried — from questions about his intimate relationship with Lady Scott, and his leadership of the ill-fated Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911–14, to his conduct during the legendary trek that led to the death of his two companions. He also explores how Mawson subsequently concealed his failures and deficiencies as an expedition leader, and created for himself a heroic image that has persisted for a century.

For many decades, there has been only one published, first-hand account of the expedition — the one written and orchestrated by Mawson himself. Only recently have alternative accounts become publicly available. The most important of these is the long-suppressed diary of Mawson’s deputy, Cecil Madigan, who is scathing in his criticisms of Mawson’s abilities, achievements, and character. At the same time, other accounts have appeared from leading members of the expedition that also challenge Mawson’s official story.

In this compelling and revealing new book, David Day draws upon all this new evidence, as well as on the vast research he undertook for his international history of Antarctica, and on his own experience of sailing to the Antarctic coastline where Mawson’s reputation was first created. Flaws in the Ice will change perceptions of Douglas Mawson forever.

'[A]n excellent, excoriating and long-overdue account of Mawson's 1911 -14 Antarctic expedition.

Pater Goers, Sunday Mail

Gillian Terzis, Weekend Australian

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 234mm × 153mm

Extent:336pp

ISBN (13):9781922247513

RRP:£14.99

Pub date:11 Sep 2014

Rights Held: World

Rights Sold: North America (Lyons Press)

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David Day

David Day is a bestselling and prize-winning biographer and historian, several of whose books have been published to acclaim in the United States and Britain and have been translated into numerous languages. Among his many academic posts, David Day has been a junior research fellow at Clare College in Cambridge, a by-fellow at Churchill College in Cambridge, and a visiting fellow at the University of Aberdeen and the Australian National University. He spent three years as a visiting professor at University College, Dublin, and two years at the University of Tokyo. He is currently an honorary associate in the history program at La Trobe University. Maurice Blackburn: champion of the people is his twentieth book.