Beyond the Barrier by Eugene Rodgers

Beyond the Barrier by Eugene Rodgers

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Summary

Without discrediting the expedition's success or Admiral Richard Byrd's leadership, this book makes clear for the first time that the admiral was not the saintly hero he and the press depicted. This is a provocative reassessment of an American hero and a scrupulously objective book that makes a major contribution to history.

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Beyond the Barrier by Eugene Rodgers

When this book originally appeared in 1990, it was hailed as an important new work because of the author's access to Adm. Richard E. Byrd's just-released private papers. Previous books on the legendary polar explorer had to rely on sources subject to the admiral's vigilant censorship or the control of his heirs and friends. With this study Eugene Rodgers provides a scrupulously honest and objective account of Byrd's 1929 expedition to Antarctica. Without discrediting the expedition's success or Byrd's leadership, Rodgers shows that the admiral was not the saintly hero he and the press depicted. Nor was the expedition without its problems. Interviews with surviving members of the expedition together with a wealth of other new material indicate that Byrd, contrary to his claims, was not a good navigator--his pilots usually had to find their way by dead reckoning--and that he was not on the actual flight that discovered Marie Byrd Land. The book further reveals a crisis over drunkenness among the men (including Byrd), the admiral's fear of mutiny, and his rewriting of news stories from the pole to embellish his own image.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9781557507136
ISBN 10 1557507139
Title Beyond the Barrier
Author Eugene Rodgers
Series Bluejacket Bks
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Naval Institute Press
Year published 2012-04-30
Number of pages 384
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.