Madhouse at the End of the Earth

“A grade-A classic.”—The Sunday Times

“A vivid horror story . . . thrillingly recounted.”—The New York Review of Books

“As soon as you finish, you want to read it again.”—Daily Mail

“Madhouse at the End of the Earth [is an] exquisitely researched and deeply engrossing account of the Belgica’s disastrous Antarctic expedition. Sancton uses . . . an extraordinary treasure trove . . . to tease out the personalities and fears and rivalries of his subjects [in] his increasingly harrowing descriptions of life on the Belgica.”—The New York Times

“An extraordinary tale of ambition, folly, heroism and survival, superbly told by Julian Sancton, who has rescued the Belgica’s story from relative obscurity and brought it to magnificent life . . . [a] splendid, beautifully written book.”—The Spectator

“I started reading Madhouse at the End of the Earth . . . and I couldn’t stop. [It] reads like an adventure novel [and] is so detailed you can almost smell and taste it.”—Bon Appétit

“Locked down, I craved perilous adventure. Julian Sancton’s Madhouse at the End of the Earth delivered. The Belgica’s 1897 South Pole expedition is pure horror. Clueless captain, rat-infested ship frozen into the ice, scurvy, darkness, hunger, insanity . . . terrific stuff.”—The New Statesman, “Books of the Year”

“At once a riveting survival tale and a terrifying psychological thriller, Madhouse at the End of the Earth is a mesmerizing, unputdownable read. It deserves a place beside Alfred Lansing’s immortal classic Endurance.”—Nathaniel Philbrick, New York Times bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea and Valiant Ambition

“Madhouse is that rare nonfiction gem—an obscure but important history transformed by deep research and note-perfect storytelling into a classic thriller. Reading this book is as much an adventure as the very story it tells.”—Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs

“Madhouse at the End of the Earth has it all: idealism, ingenuity, ambition, explosives, flimflammery, a colorful cast, a blank map, a three-month-long night, penguins (and medicinal penguin meat). . . . A riveting tale, splendidly told.”—Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Witches and Cleopatra

“A generation before Shackleton’s Endurance, an adventure every bit as bold and dreadful took place at the bottom of the world, led by a band of unimaginably colorful and resolute explorers. A wild tale, so well told and immersively researched.”—Hampton Sides, nationally bestselling author of In the Kingdom of Ice

“With meticulous research and a novelist’s keen eye, Sancton has penned one of the most enthralling—and harrowing—adventure stories in years.”—Scott Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of Lawrence in Arabia and The Quiet Americans