1950s 20th-century action action-packed adrenaline adrenaline-fueled adrenaline-rush adventure adversity aerial aerial-combat aerial-maneuvers aerial-warfare air-combat air-force aircraft airplanes ambition american-literature antarctic antarctic-expedition antarctic-exploration antarctic-wildlife antarctica atmospheric aviation aviators beautiful-prose betrayal blizzards bravery british-antarctic-expedition british-expedition british-exploration british-explorers brotherhood camaraderie captain-robert-falcon-scott captain-scott character-driven character-study climate cold cold-weather combat coming-of-age competition comradeship conflict courage danger dangerous-missions death desire destiny determination discovery drama duty emotional endurance ernest-shackleton espionage excitement exhilarating exhilaration existential existentialism expedition exploration exploration-literature extreme-cold extreme-conditions extreme-weather fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilots fighter-planes flying freezing-temperatures friendship frostbite grief gripping grit hardship hardships harsh-conditions harsh-environment heroism historical historical-account historical-non-fiction history honor hunters hunting hypothermia ice intense intensity introspection introspective isolation james james-salter korean-war leadership literary literary-fiction literature loss love love-affairs love-triangle loyalty masculinity memoir military military-fiction morality mortality natural-history nature non-fiction nonfiction novel obsession passion penguin penguin-eggs penguins perseverance pilot pilots poetic polar polar-expedition polar-expeditions polar-exploration polar-regions post-war power-dynamics psychological pursuit redemption relationships resilience risk risk-taking rivalries rivalry roald-amundsen robert-falcon-scott romance sacrifice salter science scientific-discovery scientific-expedition scientific-research scott-expedition scotts-antarctic-expedition scotts-expedition scotts-last-expedition scotts-terra-nova-expedition self-discovery sledging snow south-pole squadron strategy struggle survival suspense suspenseful team-dynamics teamwork tension terra-nova terra-nova-expedition the-hunters thrill thrill-seeking thriller thrilling tragedy trauma triumph true-story victory vietnam vietnam-war vivid-imagery war wildlife world-war-ii