Mawson A Life

A hero of the polar exploration age, Sir Douglas Mawson is profiled in this biography, which recounts his Antarctic expeditions of 19111914 and 19291931, which resulted in Australia claiming 40 percent of the sixth continent. The personal letters and professional correspondences included reveal Mawson's relationships with influential friends and rivals. Recounted are such adventures as Mawson's confrontation of a delusional explorer in Antarctica who believed that he was Jesus Christ, his trip on an advanced monoplane, and his inspections of English war factories for chemical weapons.

Philip Ayres is an associate professor of English literature at Monash University and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is the author of Malcolm Fraser: A Biography, Classical Culture, and The Idea of Rome in Eighteenth-Century England.