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Scott and Shackleton in the media: a response to Ben Macintyre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Karen May  and
George Lewis
Karen May
Affiliation:
27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX (karenmay31@gmail.com)
George Lewis
Affiliation:
27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX (karenmay31@gmail.com)
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Extract

An opinion piece by Ben Macintyre entitled ‘Sorry, Scott fans: noble death is so last century’ appeared in The Times (London) on 20 September 2013. In this, Macintyre argued not only that Ernest Shackleton should be explicitly contrasted against his contemporary and rival Robert Falcon Scott, but that Shackleton should be found superior to Scott in virtually every way. It was a dispiriting piece, strongly suggesting that that the media's understanding of Scott has not greatly advanced since the savage, cod-psychological and often unsubstantiated attacks upon Scott's character and reputation in the 1970s–1990s. Sadly, all too often polar history is reduced to a zero-sum game where praise for Shackleton is directly proportional to insults directed at Scott.

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Reply
Information
Polar Record , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , July 2015 , pp. 386 - 391
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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