Customer Reviews
Engrossing and informative read - By: A. Colgan, 28 Jul 2010 
It's rare to find a factual, historical book so engrossing that I couldn't put it down. Michael Smith really brings to life this period of Arctic & Antarctic discovery & the harsh, life-threatening conditions that the explorers endured. The book was writtenin an easy-to-read style that maintained suspense throughout. However, I agree with the previous review that it would have been useful to have detailed maps at the start of the book to refer to. Nevertheless, this small omission did not impair my enjoyment of the book.
Usual great style from Polar writer - By: Tilly, 07 Mar 2008 A tiny museumin Castletownbere gave me an tantilising introduction to Tom Crean, & an Amazon search then introduced me to Michael Smith & The Unsung Hero. I just loved it - a wonderful heoric tale by a very skilled author, & having fallen madlyin love with Tom Crean I have now read just about everything there is on Antartic Exploration at the turn of the Century. This book is of the period half a century earlier & is writtenin the same wonderful style, where Michael Smith brings into your life a little known & probably even less admired hero. The book covers Crozier's many travels into both the Artic & Antartic, & takes us to the time when the latter was being explored for the first time, & most interesting, getting named. So those coves & coasts & mountains - Ross Shelf, Cape Crozier, Mount Terror & Mount Erebus etc, all come from Croziers era. Also, & so disappointingly, came all those bad habits that plagued the later explorations - like dependancy on man hauling, not using locally caught game, using canvas tents etc.
This is just a great book - just one small criticism - the picture reproduction is lousy & it desperately needs a couple of detailed maps at the beginning, so you can keep referring back, rather than try & find the rather undetailed ones hiddenin the text.
Mr Smith - I've read both your Tom Crean books - please find another 'unsung hero' for us!
