However an empire of ice describes little actual science larson is not able to get away from the legend surrounding the race to the pole so the vast majority of the book is not about the science but rather about how scott and shackleton used the rhetoric of doing science to justify the venture. An enlightening and entertaining new book an empire of ice seeks to rescue the exploits of edwardian derring do from the condescension of posterity by showing us how much more there was to what his subtitle refers to as the heroic age of antarctic science robert j i robert j mayhewtimes higher education 06 23 2011. An empire of ice scott shackleton and the heroic age of antarctic science larson edward j 9780300188219 books amazonca. An empire of ice scott shackleton and the heroic age of antarctic science published to coincide with the centenary of the first expeditions to reach the south polean empire of icepresents a fascinating new take on antarctic exploration retold with added information its the first book to place the famed voyages of norwegian explorer . During the heroic age 19 men died on the antarctic continent an empire of ice touches on the politics of the race starting with james clark ross in 1841 and ending with earnest shackleton in 1931 antarctica was the destination of 17 scientific expeditions launched from ten different countries