Book Description

Reviews (2)

Good, but...
A good book, rich in historical detail, but...wow, the copyediting is bad. It's enough that it's really hard to read the book. I hope they can fix the copyediting problems if they reprint the book or bring it out in paperback.

Fremont's California
For an old native Californian I never had a clear picture of the Americanos revolt against the Mexicans except for the Sonoma uprising at General Vallejo's headquarters where the Bear Republic flag was raised. This book gives a comprehensive picture of the tumult in California and how the various American and Mexican forces interacted. It gives an excelllent description as to what California was like with an estimated population of 15,000. This book now gives me a greater feeling of the Fremont history for the country roads and off-named places that I have traveled throughout California over many decades of my lifetime. I did not know that Fremont was French and we are not accenting his name properly. I wonder whether 150 years ago his name was pronounced properly. The city of Fremont perhaps should take note of the accent mark. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Captain James Cook's three epic 18th-century explorations of the PacificOcean were the last of their kind, literally completing the map of the world.Yet despite his monumental discoveries, principally in the South Pacific, Cookthe man has remained an enigma. In retracing key legs of the circumnavigator'sjourney, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz chronicles the culturaland environmental havoc wrought by the captain's opening of the unspoiledPacific to the West, as well as the alternately indifferent and passionatereactions Cook's name evokes during the writer's journeys through Polynesia,Australia, the Aleutians, and the explorer's native England. Horwitz skillfullyweaves a biography and travel narrative with warm humor that is natural and human-scale, and his restless inquisitiveness quickly infects the reader. Whilestriking dichotomies abound throughout that journey--Maori toughs who adopt Naziimagery to symbolize their own fight against white domination, millennia-oldPolynesian sexual mores that would shame the Reeperbahn, a sense thatChristianity decimated native cultures at least as effectively as Westernvenereal diseases did--few are more poignant than the ones that abound in Cook'sown life. This fine work is an adventurous reminder that answers to historicalriddles are elusive at best--and seldom as compelling as the myriad newquestions they pose. --Jerry McCulley ... Read more

Reviews (57)

An entertaining sampling of Cook for the non-historian
Tony Horwitz spends a year and a half visiting many of the places Captain Cook visited from 1768 - 1779. The book culminates with Cook's violent death in modern day Hawaii.

The book alternates back and forth between Cook's 18th century experience and Mr. Horwitz's modern day travels. Horwitz does an excellent job of interpreting the various sources available and giving an account that the historical layperson can relate to. Key characters include the author, Cook, the colorful Joseph Banks (the Endevour's Botanist) and Horowitz's even more colorful traveling companion Roger Williamson. Horwitz paints a picture of Cook as an austere, yet fair man-seemingly driven to the edges of the earth. As driven as Cook is to explore the world, Banks is driven to explore the anatomies of females from different Polynesian cultures. Roger is mainly content to explore the bottle and make wisecracks about Horwitz's adventure. If you think Blue Latitudes sounds like a dry historical piece, you're sorely mistaken. Any potential dryness is quickly quenched by Horwitz's wit, Banks's "botanizing" and Roger's boozing.

Much to my wife's amusement I found myself laughing out loud many times while reading Blue Latitudes. Despite that, I found myself strangely moved after reading the account of Cook's death. While the consequences of Cook's voyages are complex, you cannot help but feel a great admiration for this man who started with so little yet went so far. Great book, highly recommended.

Adventure in the Pacific
The question often asked of Columbus - how could he "discover" America if there were already people here could apply to Captain Cook and his 3 voyages of discovery in the Pacific. Retracing some of the journeys, Horwitz sets out across the world to discover Cook, and the world he encountered. This is helped by the fact that a lot of the remote areas have changed very little in the intervening 200 plus years. But Horwitz also shows us that Cook's travels are remembered in differing ways - from worship, to indifference, to outright hostility, depending on where you go. While Columbus is honored with numerous locations, and others like Magellan have landmarks named after them. Yet Cook was more self effacing and thus very little bears the name of this explorer. This makes the journey even more interesting, as you try to get into the head and person of the great Captain.

Some of the book is depressing and almost seems an aside. Repeatedly Horwitz and his friend run into walls trying to look beyond the published history and understand the early European - Native contacts through the people left behind. An oft repeated theme is the way Cook is looked up as a monster by the natives today, having shattered paradise with his arrival. Horwitz juxtaposes the historical journeys of Cook seen through logs and writings of the time, and what is to be discovered today. Much of the writing is very enjoyable and brings us along to visit remote areas in the Pacific that we most likely would not visit ourselves. Some parts get long winded, or stretch for inclusion, but overall the book moves along nicely and pays honor to the explorer and his place in the world, both in the 17th century, and the 21st.

Horwitz does it again...
Tony Horwitz has had two back-to-back smash hits in his Pulitzer prize-winner Baghdad Without a Map and the critically acclaimed Confederates in the Attic. He now has added another gem to his body of work in Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before.

James Cook seems largely to be forgotten to history. Yet, his was probably the most incredible voyage of discovery. Just the story of how Cook came to be a navigator is a fascinating one. In a day where the children of laborers did not receive an education, a mentor took notice of Cook and paid for four years of school. Cook was ambitious and worked hard to fill in the gaps in his education. As a teen, he moved from a store clerk to working on a coal ship to finally joining the Royal Navy, where he rose very rapidly through the ranks.

The tales of Cook's three voyages to the Pacific are an unbelievable story. This man of humble beginnings became one of the world's greatest explorers. In the course of 10 years, his Pacific travels covered over 200,000 miles at a time when one third of the world was unknown and unmapped. He traveled "140 of the earth's 180 degrees latitude, as well as its entire longitude." He probably named more places (rivers, islands, points, bays, bluffs, etc.) than any other man, before or since. He was a shrewd handler of men--both those above and below him in rank. He was a prolific writer of journals and logs, which are still read today. Cook was also a brilliant surveyor and chart maker, and his map of New Zealand was used up until the 1990's (when it was finally replaced by satellite images). His voyages also led to the discovery of thousands of new plants and animals, and his claiming land for Britain helped to eventually lead Britain in becoming a major empire that spanned 11 thousand miles.

But what makes Blue Latitudes a true delight is Horwitz's travelogue. In his attempt to follow in Cook's footsteps and see locations as Cook might have seen them, Horwitz travels to Canada, Tahiti, Bora-Bora, New Zealand, Australia, Niue, Tonga, England, Alaska and Hawaii. With his sidekick Roger, his travels are often hysterical. His week spent on a replica of the Endeavour (complete with 14 inches of hammock space) is especially a hoot. But it is also depressing to discover that the European explorers (not just Cook) changed the way of life on these islands. Many brought with them disease, STD's, materialism and religion. They also tried to eradicate the native culture and native populations. Horwitz also discovered that while Cook is revered in England, he is pretty much reviled among the Pacific nations he visited. Yet ironically, journals, diaries, logs and sketches from Cook's travels are in some cases the only record of these native cultures. It was also distressing to Horwitz was to discover that very little actually exists from Cook's time. Places he lived, worshipped and worked are pretty much gone. The sites he visited are also much changed. Cliff Thornton, president of the Captain Cook Society told Horwitz that "the best you can do is catch an echo of the man. You can almost never reach out and touch him."

The only thing lacking from this almost perfect book is pictures. There are plenty of maps and a painting of Cook. It would have been fascinating to see photos of the many places Horwitz traveled. I don't expect to be traveling to Bora-Bora, Tonga, Niue, Tahiti, or the other locations mentioned any time soon. Still, Blue Latitudes is a wonderful book and even those not much interested in history will find a fascinating story here.

Decent, informative, amusing book.
Decent, informative, and amusing book.
(6 out of 10)

Tony Horwitz' book, Blue Latitude, is part travelogue, and part history book. The author writes about his tales retracing the three voyages that Captain Cook took to the Pacific Ocean around 1770-1780. Horwitz' retracing is not exact nor the site visitations in chronological order with Cook's visits. This is mainly due to the logistics of travel.

If memory serves me correctly, Horwitz visits the North west coast of America, then swings south to Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, back up to Cook islands, England, the island of Tonga, the Unalaska Alaskan Islands (you read that right) and onto Hawaii.

The cultural and environmental demise of most of these islands is much the same. Materialism, missionaries, and venereal diseases would devastate each island, destroying much of the culture. Many would despise Cook's journey, but ironically, it would be Cook and his crew's journals that would help these islands reconstruct the traditions of their ancestors.

Horwitz covers a lot of ground. From what it was like living on a ship, to the hardships of living in England, to the customs of Pacific culture. His manner is that of a well informed friend. There were times where you were pressing to know more, but overall, I was happy he gave perhaps a slightly more than cursory treatment of the various topics. Since I'm not a history buff, nor a serious traveler, but rather part of the "masses" on this subject, anything more than what Horwitz presents would have been nauseating details.

Let me list some of the best parts of the book. The opening chapters describing Horwitz experience on replica of the Endeavor, the boat used by Cook on his first journey, really conveys to the reader the danger, and the toil that sea travel was back in the 18th century. That chapter was the most memorable, and it's lessons of hardship provides a good background for the rest of the book. Of course, that doesn't meant the rest of the book is all down hill. The Epicurean tastes of his best science officer, Banks who was a party animal, when contrasted against the hard life of the rest of Cook's crew was funny in a rather dark way. Perhaps the most intriguing story was the circumstances of Cook's death in Hawaii, and it is here I really wish Horwitz had gone into more detail.

The modern day travels were also amusing. These include a traditional, drunken party in Australia celebrating Cook's discovery of Australia which to some degree reminds me of a crude Mardi Gras-like celebration in New Orleans. The quest for the Red banana on the island of Tonga, a traditional fruit believed to be forever lost. The brutally cold visits to the Unalaska islands of Alaska make you marvel at the temerity of Cook and his crew. And of course, there was Horwitz funny, drunk and quick-witted friend from Australia, Roger who would travel with Horwitz for most of the itinerary.

Perhaps the most serious thing lacking in this book are the pictures. It would be great to see the ship that Cook sailed on. It would have been informative to see the before and after pictures of the various islands overrun by western culture.

This book is neither a boring nor exciting. Think of this book as sitting down with a good friend and having him tell you his vacation stories. It's a pleasant experience, but since this is a book not a friend, you can't ask any questions and 'direct' the conversation. In that sense the book can be frustrating. The friend-conversation analogy is apt. Just like friends, at times I wanted to know about Tony Horwitz, and not so much about his adventures. Horwitz came off as more a reporter, and I think his book could have benefited from telling us what exactly he was thinking at the time. Is it possible to think of Cook, every thought throughout the several months? Probably not.

To that end, books similar to Blue Latitudes but where the authors have no problem telling you exactly what they were thinking, I recommend the following:

Travels by Michael Crichton
Primate's Memoirs by Robert Sapolsky

The first is about the spiritual awakenings of the author. The latter is about the author's adventures in Africa as a grad student studying primates.

So in summary, Blue Latitude is a decent read filled with amusing anecdotes of history and of the author's travels. It's a light book, and because of that, you may not come away with any sort of wisdom. But for those who may be wondering what it would be like to adventure or vacation on the "high seas", then this book can provide you insight, and for some, it might just be the vacation they need.

In the flotsam of Cook's wake
"With only one break in the encircling reef, the lagoon couldn't flush the sewage pumped into its once-crystalline water. If the wind and tide ran the wrong way, scum coated the surface. Overfishing had killed off much of the marine life. Fresh water was so scarce it had to be cut off each night from nine P.M. to five A.M."

Such is the contemporary description in BLUE LATITUDES of the over-developed Bora-Bora lagoon, one of Captain James Cook's Polynesian landfalls in the summer of 1769.

During the period 1768 to 1779 at the behest of the British Admiralty, Cook of the Royal Navy captained three 3-year voyages to the Pacific Ocean in attempts to discover either the continent rumored to be at the bottom of the world, or the much-sought Northwest Passage to Asia. Cook found neither, but he was the first European to see and chart many of the islands and landmass margins in that vast watery expanse. In BLUE LATITUDES, author Tony Horwitz follows in Cook's wake to the most celebrated of the latter's landfalls, both north and south: Tahiti, Bora-Bora, New Zealand, Botany Bay (Australia), the Great Barrier Reef, Niue, Tonga, Unalaska (in the Aleutians), and Hawaii.

To my tastes, this book is a near-perfect travel essay. Not only are Cook's experiences described from the author's study of the great explorer's journals, but Horwitz paints a present-day picture of places that I'll likely never visit except in my mind's eye. And he writes with humor and perception. So, I'm both educated and entertained; it doesn't get better than that. The only thing lacking is a photo section - something illogically missing from too many travel narratives on the bookshelves. (Why most travel writers neglect to provide visual reinforcement remains a mystery to me.)

Tony begins his book with a nice touch - his personal agony during five days as a volunteer sailor aboard a full-scale reconstruction of Cook's first ship, The Endeavor, as it sailed from Gig Harbor, WA, to Vancouver, BC. At the end of his short voyage, Horwitz and the reader marvel at the endurance of the 19th century swabbie during literally years at sea because, as the author describes himself:

"My hands were so swollen and raw that I couldn't make a fist or do the buttons on my shirt. Every limb throbbed. My eyes twitched and blurred from fatigue ... (I had) tar stuck in my hair (and) grime embedded in every inch of exposed skin."

Two-thirds of the way through the volume, in order to discover something of the inner Cook, Horwitz takes us to North Yorkshire, England, where the explorer was born in 1728, and where he took to sea from the Whitby docks in 1746 as a coal ship's apprentice. In the following chapter, it's on to London, where Cook lived with his wife between his celebrated voyages. Sadly, there are few genuine traces of the intrepid captain remaining on his home island.

Admittedly, the modern world has taken cruel toll on the exotic places that so captivated Cook and his crews. For example, Horwitz describes Papeete, Tahiti as an overpriced, congested mass of billboards, car fumes, crumbling sidewalks, litter, and ferroconcrete. Even the monument on the Hawaiian beach commemorating the spot of Cook's death at the hands of the natives is marred with graffiti and surrounded by trash.

Cook has been blamed by some as being the point man for West's destruction of Paradise. But, at the end of BLUE LATITUDES, this reader, at least, stands in awe of the man. ... Read more

Book Description

If the word "hero" still belonged in the historian's lexicon, it would certainly be applied to John Wesley Powell. Intrepid explorer, careful scientist, talented writer, and dedicated conservationist, Powell led the expedition that put the Colorado River on American maps and revealed the Grand Canyon to the world. Now comes the first biography of this towering figure in almost fifty years--a book that captures his life in all its heroism, idealism, and ambivalent, ambiguous humanity.In A River Running West, Donald Worster, one of our leading Western historians, tells the story of Powell's great adventures and describes his historical significance with compelling clarity and skill. Worster paints a vivid portrait of how this man emerged from the early nineteenth-century world of immigrants, fervent religion, and rough-and-tumble rural culture, and barely survived the Civil War battle at Shiloh. The heart of Worster's biography is Powell's epic journey down the Colorado in 1869, a tale of harrowing experiences, lethal accidents, and breathtaking discoveries. After years in the region collecting rocks and fossils and learning to speak the local Native American languages, Powell returned to Washington as an eloquent advocate for the West, one of America's first and most influential conservationists. But in the end, he fell victim to a clique of Western politicians who pushed for unfettered economic development, relegating the aging explorer to a quiet life of anthropological contemplation. John Wesley Powell embodied the energy, optimism, and westward impulse of the young United States. A River Running West is a gorgeously written, magisterial account of this great American explorer and environmental pioneer, a true story of undaunted courage in the American West. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Growing With the Country
Reading this book was like being present at the creation of America. It will appeal especially to U.S. history buffs and to anyone interested in the American West. Worster's telling of the feat that won Powell fame, leading the first expedition down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon, has definitely renewed my passion for exploring the West. Powell was a man of ideas, as well as action. For a quarter century he was at the forefront of debates over reserving land for American Indians, how to foster family farming in the arid West, and the thorny issue of water rights. For many years, Powell was a prominent official in Washington, as head of the U.S. Geological Survey, which he helped create, and in other positions. From what I gather in this book, Powell may have been as important as any single individual in making support of scientific research a normal function of the Federal Government. From the perspective of one man's career, Worster touches on a multitude of topics: railroads, telegraph, photography, landscape painting of the West, Mormon settlements, and many more. For the comprehension one gains of American life in those times, this biography is the equal of a first rate novel. Although a work of scholarship, it is written to be enjoyed by the general reader.

Informative but a little sterile.
The book is well written and informative about the events of Powell's life and the geological survey in which Powell played such a major role. My primary disappointment with the book was that I felt I didn't know the person John W. Powell much better after reading the book. The book provided very little information about Powell's life outside of his work.

An Enchanting Piece of Scholarship
I enjoyed this book immensely. Thorough, evocative, thrilling, and comprehensive in its scope, it was a delight from beginning to end.
I completed a major in Geography at Illinois State University many years ago, where Powell taught at one time, and I am embarrassed to admit the sad truth that in all the courses I took nary a word was ever mentioned about the great man. Considering his extraordinary contribution to our understanding of the natural world, it is all too sad.

Mystery and Meaning in John Wesley Powell
The life of John Wesley Powell presents a mystery and a meaning. Powell, of course, achieved fame for his explorations of the Colorado River and surrounding regions, accomplished in two expeditions in 1869 and 1871-72. The romance of a one-armed man, wounded in the Civil War fighting for the Union, now beating the toughest river in the West, retains its charm to this day; Powell's visage graces plaques all over the West, especially at the Grand Canyon. But the bulk of Powell's life was spent not in rugged exploration but behind desks in Washington, as director of the US Geological Survey and the Bureau of Ethnology. In his capacity as a bureaucrat Powell proved a tenacious infighter, successful in all but his most important venture (more on that below). The mystery of Powell's life lies in finding the connection between Powell the explorer and Powell the bureaucrat, which seem at first blush to be at such odds with each other. Donald Worster's biography of Powell does not solve this mystery directly, but provides the material out of which a solution can be constructed. In both endeavors it was Powell's ability to claim and retain the loyalty of subordinates (who, in many cases, did the really serious scientific work) and his extraordinary organizational talent that spelled his success. We can see these skills operating clearly in Worster's careful, detailed, chronological narrative of Powell's life. The battles he fought with his Congressional opponents demanded at least as much finesse as the rapids of the Colorado; Worster's book allows us to see Powell's life, despite the surface incongruity of its two halves, as a fundamentally unified whole. The meaning in Powell's life he shared with many men of his generation in both Europe and America. Raised in a traditional, pious Wesleyan family (hence his given names), he shrugged off the strictures of religion for science; it was to science that he devoted his life, science in which he reposed his trust, science which made his career. The United States still struggles with the conflicts and contradictions between religion which makes its powerful, often deeply conservative, claims, and science, to which we owe our wealth and standing. Powell knew from his mid-twenties to which side he belonged. His experience can still speak to us. Worster's interest in Powell was adumbrated in his earlier, passionate book, *Rivers of Empire* (published in 1985). There Powell's plan to divide the West into hydrological basins, each of which would -- if its water supply was adequate -- serve as the basis for a self-governing, democratic, locally controlled water-use district, became the environmental alternative to the path we actually followed -- the construction of gigantic dams redirecting water hundreds of miles, with concomitant uncontrolled growth, pollution, disfigurement of the landscape, and transfer of untold billions of dollars from the East to the West in perhaps the greatest governmental subsidy in history. Powell's struggle to expound and implement this plan as described in his *Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States* of 1879 ended in his total defeat. Worster tells this story especially well, with full consciousness of the contribution Powell's own missteps made to the result. Powell's great failure forms the counterpoint to his great success. Whether Powell's vision, if implemented, would have led to a different, more environmentally sound -- if less glamorous -- exploitation of the West must remain moot, though there is no doubt about the damage the approach we actually followed has caused. In any case, Powell's story intertwines with issues that haunt us today. Every American needs to know his story.

The New Classic in Western History
This is a beautiful book: well conceived and exquisitely written. It may sound cliché, but this is surely an instant classic. The genius of Donald Worster's A RIVER RUNNING WEST is not that it provides a compelling and captivating account of the life of John Wesley Powell (it does), but rather that through Powell, Worster tells the story of the settlement of the American West, the history of surveying the American West, and the professionalization of science in the 19th Century. Few individuals have represented their times so comprehensively to allow for such a study (only Ben Franklin jumps readily to mind), but Powell serves as a perfect vehicle for a study of period and place. Further, Worster is arguably the finest contemporary writer on the American West, comparable to past greats De Voto and Stegner. To boot, the book's final sentence is an absolute zinger! Anyone interested in the American West must read this book. ... Read more

Book Description

What price would you pay for adventure and knowledge?

Chris and Chrissy Rouse, an experienced father and son suba diving team, hoped to achieve widespread recognition for their outstanding but controversial diving skills. Obsessed and ambitious, they sought to discover the secrets of a mysterious, undocumented World War II German U-boat that lay under 230 feet of water.

They paid the ultimate price in their quest for fame.

This gripping narrative recounts the Rouses' growing lust for what many consider the worlds most dangerous sport -- as well as for the cowboy culture of the deep diving community. Many friends wondered which would win out if it came down to a life or death diving situation: Chris's protective instincts, or Chrissy's desire to surpass his father's successes.

Author Bernie Chowdhury, an expert diver and a close friend of the Rouses', explores the thrill-seeking world of deep sea diving, including its legendary figures, most celebrated triumphs, and gruesome tragedies. By examining the diver's psychology through the complex father and son dynamic, Chowdhury illuminates the extreme sport diver's push toward and sometimes beyond the limits of human endurance.

Read by Kevin Conway.

Reviews (103)

A Must Read for Divers and Those Interested
As a newly certified OW diver, I read this book on the recommendation of my instructor. I would say this is a must read for those with an interest in the world below the surface. Chowdhury does a good job at presenting an overview of diving from a diver's perspective, risk management, wreck and cave exploration, vignettes of the dive community, and a little bit of the story of Chris and Chrissy Rousse. The content of this non-fiction book gets 5 stars from me. The organization and writing style leave room for improvement. Good effort for authorship when one considers the fact that Chowdhury is a diver and not Dickens or Twain. For the diver, this book is an eye-opener. For the non-diver, this a volume of many entries into our world. This book is a gift I will pass onto any of my friends who are new to diving or have an interest in diving.

Riveting yet disturbing I couldn't put it down
Bernie takes you on a trip with the Rouses. At the same time you learn some history of wreck diving and the people that (for better or worse) were involved. I was truly disturbed by the attitude of many of the wreck divers, especially one quick passage about a diver that let another die when he might have been able to save him. I also disagree with the philosophical statements, but I must admit, these were very few, two that I can think of. Overall it was an intriguing story, one that I couldn't put down. You feel as if you know some of the people when you are done and wish you could join them. If you are a diver READ THIS BOOK. Most accidents are diver error and reading of others might help you be better prepared. If you are not a diver but like adventure books you will enjoy this because you will feel like you are there.

A diver's must-read
As a wreck diver and technical diver in training, I jumped at the opportunity to read The Last Diver. I could not put it down, partly because of the gripping narrative, and partly because I had done so many of the things writting about in the book. But unlike the divers in the book, I am not a cowboy and I am SAFETY all the way. The lesson of the book is that both recreational AND technical diving is still relatively safe as long as you obey the rules of the game. The divers who lost their lives in the book The Last Dive all violated the rules - big time. Do that, and sooner or later you are going to pay the price. Its a lesson that we all need to learn again, whether we are doing our first dive or our thousandth.

Dive safe,

D. Keith Lamb
Master Diver

Essential Reading
Essential reading for any budding deep or wreck diver. This book is not a technical diving manual, but rather an account of what not to do when you go diving. The book is well written and you will have difficulty in putting it down. Well worth the money and essential reading for any diver with intermediate experience.

Hardcore divers must read - others would enjoy
Cave and wreck divers all over the world should read this book. Excellent story and well written. Even nondivers would enjoy this book. ... Read more

Book Description

The embodiment of the American hero, the man of action, the pathfinder, Daniel Boone represents the great adventure of his age—the westward movement of the American people. The prototype for the frontiersman, he is an intriguing and multifaceted individual who both shapes and is driven by the complex forces of this dynamic period in history.

Daniel Boone: An American Life brings together over thirty years of research in an extraordinary biography of the quintessential pioneer. Based on primary sources, the book depicts Boone through the eyes of those who knew him and within the historical contexts of his eighty-six years. The story of Daniel Boone offers new insights into the turbulent birth and growth of the nation and demonstrates why the frontier forms such a significant part of the American experience. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Detailed Portrait of the Woodsman in the Wilderness
I blame television. When reading _Daniel Boone: An American Life_ (University Press of Kentucky) by Michael A. Lofaro, I realized that I didn't know anything about Daniel Boone. I thought he wore a coonskin cap and was a contemporary of Davy Crockett, and maybe fought at the Alamo. I discovered at the end of the book that Lofaro blames television, too. Boone's fame to my generation comes from "...Fess Parker playing the lead in _Daniel Boone_, a historical disaster for baby-boomers who still confuse Boone with Crockett" because Parker sequentially played one then the other in the mid-fifties. Lofaro had insight on my own ignorance, and his book is shot through with impressive scholarship that takes Boone, as much as possible, from myth and tall tales (and television-inspired error) and puts him into realistic historical perspective. There is plenty here that is inspiring, and fit for legend-making, and also plenty to show that Daniel Boone had essential trouble in managing to get along with society. And also (_pace_ Davy Crockett), Boone hated coonskin caps.

He was born in Pennsylvania in 1734, to devout Quakers. His rudimentary schooling shows up in many excerpts from his writings here; for instance, it seems to be true that on an East Tennessee tree he carved the inscription "D. Boon cilled a Bar on tree in the year 1760." Boone did indeed become an accomplished woodsman and hunter, and was always less fit for the life of frontier farming. He had a pattern of reaching out to new lands; he had a wanderlust, to be sure, and encroaching civilization always meant that he had to move to new frontiers to hunt game, but he was always eager to apply the simple solution of moving away when having people live around him was just too complicated. He would be on the move all his life. He fought for the British (along with Washington) in the French and Indian War, and then against the British in the western version of the American Revolution, which consisted mostly of fighting Indians. He had prodigious skill in the outdoors, and there are many stories here of heroism and craftiness. Although he could always win battles against Indians, he could not win against lawyers, and was often in court because of disputed boundaries he had surveyed. He was guileless and always assumed that treating someone honestly would get him honest treatment in return, an assumption that he never seemed to learn was unwarranted.

Boone was amazed that he became famous. There was a bogus autobiography printed in 1784, that was translated into German and French, and made Boone internationally known. He was painted by the young John James Audubon. James Fennimore Cooper based much of Natty Bumppo on him, and in a note to one of the Leatherstocking Tales said that Boone headed out from Kentucky to Missouri in later life "because he found a population of ten to the square mile inconveniently crowded." Tales of Boone's dry wit became staples. He did indeed, when asked if he had ever gotten lost in the wilderness, reply, "No, I can't say as ever I was lost, but I was bewildered once for three days." He blazed trails, most notably through the Cumberland Gap, and then was dismayed that they became widened for wagon travel and further encroachment by civilization. Ending up in Missouri, he spent his last years hunting buffalo and trapping beaver. He died at 85, as the nation was pushing further west and the wilds were more speedily declining. Lofaro's informative biography puts the brilliant pioneer and naïve citizen at the center of a complicated and longstanding war between settlers and Indians.

Daniel Boone
This book tells how Dniel showed honesty and cofidince. Everything about Daniel Boone is in this book. If you have a report due on a leader this is want you want. I prefer this book to anyone. ... Read more

Book Description

·Terrain that's hazard-free and easy on the paws
·On most trails, no leashes required and no crowds to dodge
·75 trails covering eastern Washington, Idaho panhandle, and northwest Montana; plus Okanagan Highlands and BC Kootenay (Canada)

Although Mittens is the "star" of this book (that's her on the cover!), more than a dozen dogs, big and small, were enlisted to help select the best trails for optimum canine enjoyment throughout the region. These trails do not require leashes (except in parks as designated). More than two-thirds of the hikes are on lesser known trails where travel is very light among other users and where you're unlikely to meet horses, bicycles, or motorized vehicles. They offer shade and lakes or streams for your canine companion to play in and keep cool.

Advance alert is given, trail by trail, on any canine hazards to watch for. Additional features include what to pack for your pooch, including The Ten Canine Essentials and a doggy first-aid kit, plus a list of documentation you need to cross the US-Canadian border with your dog. ... Read more

Book Description

This was to be Stanley's last expedition to Africa. He was charged with rescuing Emin Pasha (Viceroy), who had been appointed a governor in the southern Sudan by the British, and had been forced to retreat to the Lake Albert (now northern Uganda) by the uprising led by an Islamic holy man. In 1888 Stanley journeyed up the Congo and to the lake, reaching Emin, who refused to leave. Eventually persuaded by Stanley, they proceeded to the Indian Ocean by way of the Semliki River which was found to connect Lake Albert with Lake Edward. This work is in two volumes. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Hey, I was there
As one of the rescuers in a chapter, I can tell you that Mr. Nunn tells the tale honestly and as it happened. I learned things I was unaware of or had forgotten from reading the account I was involved in. This book is an accurate and truthful recount of ordinary people caught up in extraoridnary events.

Respect for Mother Nature
Panic Rising is aptly named. I felt the sensation reading these fast-paced stories even though I was in a warm and comfy armchair with a hot cup of tea at hand.

I liked the idea that these adventures involved ordinary people, rescued and rescuers, who showed courage and fortitude to save lives. I connected especially with the stories set in my own backyard, like Heliotrope Ridge that I've ventured out on. It is so easy to imagine spontaneously sliding down an inviting snowy hill into an unseen crevace. Yikes!

I was struck by the inspiring synchronicity in some of the rescues.

I bought this book for my son who loves to hike in the woods and mountains. To be on the safe side maybe it should be accompanied by a personal locator beacon device.

interesting
not that great but this book is great. I was impressed by the breadth of coverage including the chapter about whale hunting. Just amazing!!!! ... Read more

Book Description

What happened to Amelia Earhart? This question has inspired books, articles, and investigations that have continued until the present.In Amelia, best-selling authors Goldstein and Dillon review the existing literature and theories about what occurred in 1937 when the world's most revered aviatrix disappeared at age thirty-nine over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to fly around the world.More than investigating her mysterious disappearance, Amelia recounts the life story of this fascinating woman who had a personality so vivid that, despite her critics, her reputation as a loyal, entertaining, and inspirational figure endures.A very thorough book that helps to explain why it has been so hard for history to let her go. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Comments on Amelia by Goldstein and Dillon
This is book worth reading because it incorporates for the first time in any published book the unpublished and uncompleted manuscript on Amelia and her disappearance entitled "Flight into Yesterday, the Amelia Earhart Enigma" by Laurence Safford, CPT USN (Ret). Safford was a famed cryptographer and a US Navy Intelligence Officer who gained fame for his role in intercepting Japanese codes prior to Pearl Harbor and for his insistance that Roosevelt and others had received the decoded "East Winds Rain" message signifying the imminent attack by the Japanese.

They also include for the first time in any book, significant information provided by Earhart researcher John Luttrell.

The book by Goldstein and Dillon makes good use of both Safford's manuscript and Luttrell's information and correspondence, but also incorporates several mistakes that Safford and Luttrell made and their (Goldstein and Dillon) book should be read with an awareness that it is not the final authority and that there are other books published concerning Earhart's disappearance that should be read for a balanced opinion of any conclusions. Those would include "The Search for Amelia Earhart' by Fred Goerner, "The Sound of Wings" by Lovell, "Amelia Earhart, The Mystery Solved" by Long and Long, "Amelia Earhart, The Final Story" by Loomis with Jeffrey Ethell, and "With Our Own Eyes, Eyewitnesses to the Final Days of Amelia Earhart" by Campbell with Thomas E. Devine.

Amelia: a woman of independence!!
(...) As soon as I started to read this book I couldn't set it down. It was really and truly inspirational, it shows you don't have to be a man, to do something thats considered a man's job, all you need, is determination and to have your heart in soul in it... but most of all do it for fun, do it becasue you love it! I read a lot of books and I know that you always have something to say or a lesson you get out of the story. Out of this book I've gotten knowledge of women heroes, of women leaders, and it also showed me to do what i want to do, when I want to do it, because you will regret it later. That's why I gave this book review 5 stars and 2 thumbs up!!

It's How You Live NOT How You Die That Matters
What makes a person become a pioneer? What was it like to be the FIRST PERSON to fly solo from California to Hawaii? The 1930's were a time very different from ours, but people still have to reach for the best within themselves. This is were this book reaches new ground. The authors have stripped the layers of myth away to reveal the wonderful and gifted human being that Amelia created. Trusted and respected author/historians Goldstein and Dillon (those wonderful folks who gave us the Pearl Harbor books, Photohistories of D-Day and Battle of the Bulge,etc) turn their trained and impartial eyes on this most enigmatic person. (The book has extensive notes and a bibliography). Amelia believed a women's place was equal to that of a man's, in not only aviation, but in all areas of American life.

Doesn't solve the mystery
I read this book with high expectations, being familiar with Goldstein and Dillon from their earlier works with Prof. Gordon Prange on the Pearl Harbor attack. As a short biography of AE it passes muster; however as a serious attempt to investigate her disappearance in 1937 it falls short. The authors rely almost completely on an unpublished manuscript by Capt. Laurence Safford USN (famous to Pearl Harbor conspiracy buffs from his role in the "East Wind Rain" controversy). In the few places where this source is quoted directly, serious errors can be detected. For instance on p.236, Safford rejects the generally accepted theory that Earhart's 157-337 line of position was a sunrise observation by Noonan, on the grounds that she was using magnetic bearings and "A discrepancy of nine degrees is hard to swallow". On p.239 we learn that the difference between true and magnetic bearings near Howland Is. is exactly nine degrees! It is clear from this that Earhardt and Noonan were following the standard practice in celestial navigation of working in true bearings. Evidently none of the authors or editors had even a cursory knowledge of air navigation. These kinds of errors make me doubt all the information in this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Melody Webb's reflections on her twenty-five-year-long career in the National Park Service is an insider's account of a public bureaucracy. As a woman, she was working in a male-dominated agency; as an idealist, she attempted to champion the wise use of the national parks in a pragmatic political agency.

Webb's career began in Alaska during President Gerald Ford's administration. She helped set up the mechanism that permitted Alaskan Natives to claim up to 2 million acres of federal land to preserve culturally significant areas. Following a dozen years of historic preservation work in Alaska and New Mexico, Webb spent the second half of her tenure in management positions. She served as superintendent at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park and then as assistant superintendent, in charge of all park operations at Grand Teton National Park. During this period the Park Service was faced with conflicting mandates: there was a growing demand for recreational land use and, at the same time, environmental requirements and tight budgets limited the NPS's options.

Webb's frankness about the day-to-day politics within an institution that many Americans feel should be above politics make this book an eye opener for historians and anyone who has an interest in the National Park System. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Role Model for Young Women
Melody Webb's book offers two messages: one, we are loving our national parks to death, and two, women have a role in managing them. She tells about her experiences as a public historian and as supervisor in several national parks with the purpose of elevating awareness of how management practices and use by visitors threaten these national treasures. While involved in work previously assigned to men, she never wavers from a feminine introspection and awareness of the impact of her personality and temperament on her professional life. She proves that a woman can succeed in roles traditionally assigned to men. This book is a must-read for young women who dream of entering professions once thought of as being open only to men.

She Had a Nice Run
Melody Webb's years in the National Park Service certainly was an adventure. Imagine spending your summer canoeing down Alaska's Yukon River in search of abandoned gold rush camps with a virtual stranger as your guide or backpacking alone up the steep and treacherous Chilkoot Trail, battling hypothermia in the icy winds of the summit. As a park superintendent, how would you handle politicians, irate ranchers, active environmental groups, diseased elk and buffalo, re-introduction of the wolf to Yellowstone National Park, or a grizzly bear attack on a popular hiking trail? Melody Webb has experienced all that and more in her twenty-five-year career in the National Park Service and presents an articulate, informative, and well-paced account of her adventures in the great outdoors.

The real story
Melody Webb's stunningly candid account of life in the National Park Service is by far the best memoir in the recent history of the agency. She tells it like it is, with candor and frankness, showing both the ideals that make the Park Service wonderful and the political murkiness that makes management nigh on impossible. Webb's picture makes sense; she is a close observer who is fair in her depictions of how the agency operates and of how those in power use their cachet. Shed tells a cogent and understandable story, free from the biases of casual observers and the axe-grinding of other participants. Well-written and well told, this is best memoir about the National Park Service that I have ever read - and I've read them all! This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to know how the national parks are run.

Hal Rothman
Henderson NV

Inside the National Park Service
As bureau historian for the National Park Service from 1982 to 2000, I scrutinized every published memoir by former agency leaders. Melody Webb's account is unique in offering the perspective not of a director or other top official but of a historian and superintendent who dealt more closely with park resources and visitors. It offers remarkably candid and revealing insights into how our national parks are managed and the challenges faced by those managing them. It presents as well the particular opportunities and obstacles confronted by a woman advancing in a traditional male-dominated bureaucracy. Those seeking a better behind-the-scenery depiction of the parks and the park service will not soon find one.

Insights into the Great Outdoors
I have recommended Dr Webb's book to friends, colleagues, and students interested in parks and conservation. This insider's view of the great outdoors offers a useful perspective on the inner workings of the Park Service and offers insights into the relationships between parks and the territories and people within which they are situated. Dr. Webb offers the reader just enough personal information to evaluate her commentary. This book is especially useful as an indicator of the changing role of gender in government service. So - as a record of the adventures of a women in the great outdoors - this book should be read by anyone whose life is touched by the National Parks. ... Read more

Book Description

Seducer, gambler, necromancer, swindler, Good Samaritan, spy, swashbuckler, self-made gentleman, entrepreneur, wit, poet, translator, philosopher, and general bon vivant, Giacomo Casanova was not only the most notorious lover the Western world has known, but also a storyteller of the first order. Since he lived a life richer and stranger than most fictions, the tale of his own adventures is his most compelling story, but his memoir remained-at twelve volumes-unfinished at the time of his death. In these selections culled from authoritative French texts are all the highlights of Casanova's life: his youth in Venice as a precocious ecclesiastic; carousing and dabbling in the occult; imprisonment and thrilling escape; travels and encounters with major literary figures and world leaders; and, of course, many amorous conquests, ranging from noblewomen to nuns to cobblers' daughters, all of them willing partners in the adventures of his life.

The first new translation since the 1960s, this Penguin Classics edition will provide readers with the most famous episodes as well as the overall shape of a monumental work in one beautiful, unique volume. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

men can be such nice people
well this essentially an exceprt from the much larger story of my life. it is essentially the autobiography of a self-absorbed ladies man. womanizing, debauchery and what seems to me to be pure boasting fills the book. i found it to be ok but definately felt i could have been doing something better than reading this. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1860, fifteen years after Sir John Franklin's ill-fated expedition disappeared in the Arctic, an obscure Cincinnati businessman named Charles Francis Hall set out to locate and rescue the expedition's survivors. He was an amateur explorer, without any scientific training or experience, but he was driven by a sense of personal destiny and religious and patriotic fervor. Despite the odds against him, he made three forays into the far North, the final -- and fatal--one taking him farther north than any Westerner had ever gone before. But Hall was suddenly taken ill on that voyage and died under mysterious circumstances.

Ninety-seven years later, Chauncey Loomis headed an expedition to Hall's grave in northwestern Greenland. He exhumed the frozen remains and performed an autopsy. His findings suggest that the investigators of Hall's death nervously sidestepped the damning evidence.

Loomis has written a masterful biography-cum-mystery that brilliantly evokes the lure of the Arctic and the brutal contest between man and nature. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Farthest North?
What causes a merely modestly successful, married middle class businessman during the American civil war era to suddenly decide to head up an artic rescue mission (and then return yet again for another try). And then later still, successfully campaign to be chosen by Congress to lead the then most ambitious ever official U.S. expedition to the North Pole itself? His character.

Hall took his Christianity very seriously. All of the crew of Franklin's famous expedition of a decade past were lost and Hall decided to dedicate himself to help, even though his limited means meant that he must hitchhike a ride out on a whaling ship, then set himself ashore alone, and live cheaply on the polar wasteland among the Eskimos from whom he meant to learn Franklin's fate.

Indeed Hall, way way out there in icy nowhere land, after learning the Intuit language, did find out valuable clues from conversations from native elders while spending a few winters sharing this people's dangerous way of life, their igloos, their hunger in bad times, and their raw meat diet in better times.

Because he kept a daily diary we get whole amazing story.

Hall managed to learn enough of the truth to allow him to lead a dangerous trek for to collect valuable Franklin expedition artifacts. Upon returning the second time to civilization, his book and lectures were enough for him to win commandership of an official American expedition to hopefully attain the Pole itself, President Grant in enthusiastic support!

Farthest North? Well the tale of Hall's third trip is a very good one and a final mystery is produced for our consideration thanks to the author's own modern day travel up the High North where he takes samples whose later medical analysis yields astonishing results.

Arctic Fascination
As a resident of Barrow, Alaska, the farthest north community in the United States, I share some of the goals and fascinations of Charles Hall, which come out in the book. "The Arctic will get into your blood Earl. You'll be back." That is what one Inupiat Eskimo leader told me back in 1969, during one of my first short visits to Barrow. And I did come back and have lived here full time since the mid 1980s. The Arctic, its extreme environment, and its Native people, can get in one's blood. I feel very fortunate to be able to live here.

When I was in Cincinnati, I talked with a local librarian who said that Charles Hall used to camp outdoors in a local park in a tent in the dead of winter, just to toughen himself up for Arctic exploration.

As noted in the book, Hall should also be remembered for working closely with the Native peoples of the Canadian Arctic, as he searched for traces of the Franklin expedition. Many other Arctic explorers had only fleeting contact with the local people, if that. And Hall had to hitch-hike on various ships during his early exploration. When he finally got a ship of his own, then he died under mysterious circumstances. That is tragic and a dreadful way to end one's lifetime dream.
So read this book, and enjoy its excellent perspective on the Arctic and its people, and the dreams and determination of one man, who did all he could to learn more about our northern lands.

4 1/2 Stars - Well Done Accounting of American Exploration
This true accounting about the obsession Charles Francis Hall, a somewhat obscure Cincinatti businessman, had for Arctic exploration and its ultimate personal tragedy is fascinating.

The author Loomis trys to convey the environment of thought that created the appeal the Arctic had for Hall. The sentiment was much more pervasively Christian during the 1860-1870s when Hall made his 3 trips to the north and was able to get farther north than any Westerner had until then. In the Afterword, Loomis describes some of the appeal the vast, unexplored Artic must have had for Westerners. The Artic was both magnificent and terrifying, it was as Byron wrote "All that expands the spirit, yet appals." Loomis explains that the public had an asthetic of the sublime and this went a long way to explain to me the attraction Polar exploration must have had for Hall. But as a modern day mountaineer Fred Beckey said, "Man is not always a welcome visitor in a kingdom he cannot control."

The American explorer Kane, who died at age 36 was so revered by the American public for his exploits, that when his body was brought to New Orleans and then went up the Mississippi to it's ultimate burial location, people lined the river the entire way to bid him farewell. This helps explain the regard the public had for explorers (especially the ones who wrote accessible books).

Hall leads the first two expeditions in search of one of the overriding mysteries of the time, what happened to the members of the British expedition led by Sir John Franklin. The last and fatal voyage was in search of the North Pole. However, because of the funding by the US government of the expedition, the loss of Hall and loss of the ship itself, there was a US Naval inquiry. Because of the quasi-Naval nature of the expedition, there was insufficient discipline on the expedition and the loss of the leader under strange circumstances caused most discipline to evaporate thus dooming the expedition.

Loomis undertook his own mini-expedition 97 years after Hall's death in 1871. He visited Hall's gravesite and performed an autopsy with very interesting results.

The book is well written so that during the narrative when the details might seem tedious, they are not. Exhaustively researched and well presented with essential maps, photographs and a list of the crew on the last voyage.

Read and enjoy.

Weird and Tragic is Right, Particulary Weird
Chauncey Loomis' Weird and Tragic Shores is indeed all that. It tells the story of businessman and amateur explorer Charles Francis Hall. He goes in search of traces (possibly survivors?) of Sir John Franklin's expedition. The third trip goes wrong and Charles Francis Hall dies and is buried in the North. This book is driven by the personality of Hall and it is quite the personality. He is obsessed, unlucky, amateurish at times, belligerent, and stubborn, but the best word that could be one used to describe him is one that is applied to the Arctic itself, weird. The author captures the personality vividly with contemporary accounts, particulary those of Hall himself. It is an interesting book of a footnote character in the great age of Arcitc exploration, and sometimes through these footnotes in history one can see the truth behind what drives the explorers in its rawest form. An entertaining addition to the annals of history of the North.

Little-known sideline on the Franklin Expedition
Charles Francis Hall was an odd sort, but a man whose experiences grant us access to the information then preserved within the Inuit collective memory as regards encounters with the Franklin expedition -- and, significantly, other expeditions as well.

While Cook's experience with his Inuit contracts proved ultimately frustrating to him, subsequent analysis of what he heard may provide genuine information on what went on with the Franklin expedition (and what went wrong).

The book is well written, interesting, and contains high drama and Artic adventure all its own. I would emphatically read it in concert with David Woodman's "Strangers Among Us," a careful analysis of the Inuit testimony received by Hall that provides what may be the last word on the fate of the Franklin expedition from the descendants of people who made periodic contact with the men from the Erebus and Terror at various points during the painful deterioration of ships and crew.

This book, now back in print, should not be missed by people with an interest in nineteenth century British and U.S. experiences in the Arctic. It has drama and human interest all its own, and deserves its place in the literature of Polar exploration in general, John Franklin's last expedition in particular. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Book does justice
Even an non-dog mushing fan from Anchorage can acknowledge the huge contributions Joe Reddington made for our great state. This biography by Lew Freedman does great justice to a great Alaskan, tracing his path from the lower 48 states up to Alaska and his family life, adventures and achievements while in Alaska. Reddington have been acknowledge founder of the famous Iditarod Race to Nome, one dog mushing race every Alaskan virtually follow even if he/she isn't a fan.

The book appears to be well written and the author was probably well supported by the family members of Joe Reddington in writing this book. This make the author very sympathic toward his subject. While that itself is no great crime, like all student of history, I would like to know Joe Reddington bit more readily then his public image. Like all human beings, Joe Reddington had his moments of greatness and his flaws. I would like to have read more on his failings as well as his accomplishments. But nevertheless, the book does justice to the man and his accomplishments.

(4.5) Honoring a true Alaskan hero.
Joe Redington, Sr., may not have been an Alaskan by birth, but any resident of the state would agree that he was, and remains, a symbol of the Alaskan spirit. Born and raised in Oklahoma, Redington always had a fascination with the rugged far-north, and read every book on Alaska he could get his hands on. In 1948, at the age of 31, he finally made the decision to pack up his family and move there. They homesteaded in Knik, off the Parks Highway, on the northwestern side of Knik Arm, and that's how Redington got involved with sled dogs. Mushing was an effective way to get from place to place, and Knik Kennels was born. By chance, the property opened directly onto the historic Iditarod trail, which by that time was in poor shape owing to disuse. Redington cleared a section of the trail for his own use, and soon became caught up in the route's historical significance. The famed 1925 "Serum Run" had followed that trail when there was no other means of rushing life-saving medication to diptheria-stricken Nome.

Redington decided it was high time the trail be restored and brought back into regular use, proposing a 1,000-mile dogsled race from Anchorage to Nome. Everyone thought he was nuts. But the first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was held in March of 1973, on a shoestring budget, but a resounding success nonetheless. The first few years of the race's existence were rocky at best, but this was Redington's baby, and he nursed it along with unwaivering confidence and energy. Today it is an internationally famous sporting event, with mushers arriving each spring from all over the globe to compete. Though Redington himself never won the race (he participated in it almost every year), not having time enough left to properly train his dogs after all the effort he expended in organization of the event, he did help many eventual Iditarod champions get their footing. Two such notable figures are five-time winner Rick Swenson and four-time winner Susan Butcher. In addition, Redington, along with Susan Butcher and Ray Genet, brought the first dog team to the peak of Mount McKinley in 1979. In 1993 he organized the first Iditarod Challenge, an opportunity to follow the trail for fun rather than competition, with Redington as guide. He also participated in a special dogsledding trial at the 1994 Olympics in Norway.

The title "Father of the Iditarod" has been applied to Joe Redington for years, and he has engraven himself upon the hearts of all Alaskans. I grew up in Anchorage and he was always a household name. He was an amazing man. Redington had unquenchable enthusiasm for everything he did, and never let age slow him down. He ran his last Iditarod in 1997, at the age of 80. When he was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in 1998, he fought it with the same determination and confidence that he had exhibited when fighting for the creation of the Iditarod, and he beat it. He even got back to mushing, though he would not compete again, and eventually the cancer returned and claimed his life in 1999.

This book does every possible justice to the pioneering man who revived dogsled mushing as a popular competitive sport. It is a delightful read, descriptive and engaging. Even a reader not familiar with Alaska or dog mushing will be able to capture the essence of it here. The book is also filled with great black-and-white photos of Redington, his family and fellow mushers, his dogs, and other images that bring the story to life. My one criticism would be a lack of sufficient editting. There are a few too many typos that should have been caught, and hence I don't feel quite right about giving an unconditional five-star rating. It also appears as if the very end of Chapter 18 may have been cut off, as it leaves off with what appears to be the beginning of a new sentence, but when the reader flips to the next page, it is the beginning of the next chapter. Other than this, however, the book flows very nicely and is easy to read. I would highly recommend it to just about anyone, Alaskan or not, and regardless of experience with dogs or mushing. A thoroughly delightful book!

Thank you Joe Redington!
I was so pleased with this book that I felt compelled to encourage more people to read it. It offers the history of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race which is interesting enough, but more than that, it is the story of one man who gave everything he had to Alaska and dog mushers everywhere. If you are looking for an inspirational read, this is it!

Father of the Iditarod: The Joe Redington story.
As I read through this account of the roots of "The great race" I was all the while planning my next trip to Alaska. To be included in this was an attempt to me "The Man" so convinced was I that Joe would not only pull through his illness he would live for ever. I am now sure Joe will live for ever, not only in the hearts of the Dog sledding fraternity but amongst all who possess a sense of adventure. Read this book and live the greatest adventure race on this planet.

Father of the Iditarod
This book was an intense view into the life and times of the creator of the Iditarod. It takes you back years into the past for a view of what it was like to live in a time when living in the wilderness was rough and tough. This book helps to preserve the memories of days old and commemorate the legend who devoted his life to his dream of "The Last Great Race" - "The Iditarod Sled Dog Race" ... Read more