Tyler-Lewis, Kelly

PERSONAL:

Female.

CAREER:

Historian, film producer, and author. University of Cambridge, Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, England, visiting scholar, 2002-04; National Science Foundation's Artists and Writers Program, Antarctica, former researcher.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Emmy Award, for documentary film.

WRITINGS:

The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party, Viking (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kelly Tyler-Lewis spent years traveling and researching her first book, The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party, visiting Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica, as well as spending two years at the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University, where she was a visiting scholar. The result is her account of the experiences of the crew of Aeneas Mackintosh on the Aurora, who set out in 1916 to provide a supply of food along the route of Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition for Shackleton to retrieve as he approached from the opposite side of the continent. However, the crew met with a seemingly endless string of disasters and tragedies during their trek, including a broken tractor, scurvy, injuries, and dead sled dogs. Tyler-Lewis provides readers with an up-close view of the expedition, based both on her own travels through the region and information garnered from diaries and other papers from the time. Steven Poole, writing for the Guardian, remarked that the book "reads more like a contemporary exploration yarn … than a scholarly reconstruction of events long past." One contributor for Publishers Weekly felt that "the heart of the book lies in Tyler-Lewis's dissection of the men's relationships with one another." New York Times critic Sara Wheeler declared: "It is a gripping story embracing both tragedy and triumph, and Kelly Tyler-Lewis tells it well."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 15, 2006, George Cohen, review of The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party, p. 32.

Bulletin with Newsweek, June 27, 2006, Ashley Hay, "Freeze Company," p. 68.

Geographical, November 1, 2006, Robin Hanbury-Tenison, "A Hymn to Forgotten Heroes," p. 87.

Library Journal, April 1, 2006, Robert C. Jones, review of The Lost Men, p. 109.

Publishers Weekly, January 30, 2006, review of The Lost Men, p. 48.

ONLINE

Guardian Online,http://books.guardian.co.uk/ (December 23, 2006), Steven Poole, "Stiff Upper Lips," review of The Lost Men.

New Scientist Online,http://www.newscientist.com/ (August 26, 2006), Mick O'Hare, review of The Lost Men.

New York Times Online,http://www.nytimes.com/ (April 30, 2006), Sara Wheeler, "Polar Distress," review of The Lost Men.

Rocky Mountain News Online,http://www.rockymountainnews.com/ (May 5, 2006), Sarah Peasley, "In the Shadow of Shackleton."

Seattle Weekly Online,http://www.seattleweekly.com/ (April 26, 2006), Robert Speer, review of The Lost Men.