No comments about Acadian Redemption: From Beausoleil Brossard to the Queen's Royal Proclamation.

3 comments about North of Unknown: Mina Hubbard's Extraordinary Expedition into the Labrador Wilderness.

1. Any who enjoy history blended with adventure will relish the turn-of-the-century adventurer Mina Hubbard, who journeyed into the Labrador wilderness and changed from a rural nurse into a celebrated female explorer. Mina's husband died of starvation while trying to map Labrador's interior in 1903: wife Mina was devastated not only by his death, but by his partner's accusation that the expedition failed due to her husband's incompetence. Mina launched her own expedition simultaneous to partner Dillon Wallace's second attempt: she followed her late husband's original route and with a native crew won the race to chart Labrador - and became the first white women to contact the elusive Naskapis Indians. Original source material and memoirs blend with Randall Silvis' masterful history in NORTH OF UNKNOWN: MINA HUBBARD'S EXTRAORDINARY EXPEDITION INTO THE LABRADOR WILDERNESS.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. THere were a few other books about Mina Hubbard before the centenary last year, by far the best of which is 'Lost Lands, Forgotten Stories' by British writer Alexandra Pratt, who combines Mina's story with her own as she re-traces Mina's route across Labrador. Rugge and Davis also wrote a fictionalised version of Mina's trip back in '85, which is worth a read.



3. 
   Mina Hubbard was devastated when her husband died exploring the interior of Labrador. Upon return members of his expeditionary team members told reporters that they were not well equipped. She felt these statements made Leonidas Hubbard look like a foolish amateur, and wondered if this team did all it could to help him survive.
   
   Silvis poses that to clear the family name the grieving widow left her upstate NY life and struck out on the same trail. I think she went to be closer to Leonidas (Laddy)... be where he was... see what he saw. Mina chose a crew of 4 Indians, including George, who spoke a native tongue and had been on her husband's expedition. What ever the reason she did it, once on the trail, the trip took on new motivations: survival, competition, discovery.
   
   Dillon Wallace, who leveled the criticism of that expedition to the press, also hired a crew and hit the trail simultaneously.
   
   As Mina travels, she marvels at the land, learns to eat fresh meat and work as a team. Mina's journals and maps survive longer and stronger than Wallace's who made the bigger media splash upon return. Both spend 3 days in Ungava Bay and avoided each other (cannot imagine, since this is only a settlement).
   
   This is a nicely written piece of forgotten history and it has everyday heroes. It's written for adults, but I'd like to see it find its way to high school reading lists.

No comments about Survivors: True Tales of Endurance.

5 comments about Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook.

1. A well-written, well-researched account of the life and times of Captain James Cook who was not only an outstanding explorer and all-around good man but who also found a way to prevent beri-beri during long months at sea. His detailed charting of New Zealand is still a benchmark of excellence. He left his indelible mark upon the world.



2. What a surprise I found myself reading this book. For years I had wanted to read a biography of Captain Cook. Then I had the great pleasure to read BLUE LATITUDES, BOLDLY GOING WHERE GAPTAIN COOK
   HAS GONE BEFORE (2002) by Tony Horwitz which is in part a biography told via a humorous travel narrative. And then I read the more detailed and dry COOK: The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook (2003) by Nicholas Thomas which is not so much a biography but a study of all three voyages told from all points of view. Then I came upon Martin Dugard's book which I found a fun, simple, and excellent straight forward biography. Yes, the book is flawed a bit by some psychological guesses about Cook's behavior on his final voyage with no source notes to back up the argument. Yet this is a marvelously entertaining read in similar fashion to my all time favorite page turner about another early discoverer, OVER THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, Magellan's terrifying circumnavigation of the globe (2003) BY Laurence Bergreen. Dugard also did a great job of explaining Cook's patrons in England and how he advanced and won the right to Captain these three voyages of discovery. Should a dare say there is a small biography of the Earl of Sandwich contained in these 287 pages too. I recommend Farther Than Any Man for those who want a short fun good read while learning more about an amazing individual who did indeed go Father than any Man.



3. i have spent my life around cook strait,i give talks on what cook did on his first visit,and mr dugard clearly has no idea of what cook did,every item is incorrect,wrong in all detail and he has clearly never visited the ships cove,queen charlotte sound nor read Beaglehole or cooks log,,the book is the worst i have seen of hundreds written and should not have been published with all the errors in it,it is also trivial even the locations are wrong,,,i have 40years experience of the area and am surprised this book sells



4. Dugard's slightly fanciful account of Cook's voyages certainly makes for an entertaining read - I read it cover-to-cover on a recent trip to Hawaii.
   
   However, despite the lively, engaging style, it is a bit scant and even sloppy in some areas - particularly the account of Cook's interaction with Australian Aborigines near present day Cooktown and the Easter Island encounter.
   
   That said, I enjoyed it.



5. If you are a history buff, amature psychologist, or professional traveler, this book is easly trashed. It's inconsistencies, geography and attempts psychoanalysis are sort of sad. That being said, it is a fine book! Read it for what it is - a nice yard about a real individual who greatly influenced our history and use it as a launch for further, mroe indepth studies of a fastinating man and time. I like the author's style. He is actually readable. There is no attempt to come across as a great historical guru who happened to take World History 101 while in college. I get quite sick of "academics" who just hate for their territory to be tromped on, and their freshman following, who after reading one or two history texts, are experts. Certain reading should be for pure pleasure, other reading for serious study - lets not mix them up. Her we have a book that is a pleasure to read, and we can even learn a bit from it - what more could you want? Buy it. Read it and enjoy. He Martin, lets have some more! Don't let the History Grunts get you down!

3 comments about Ralph Edwards of Lonesome Lake.

1. I have read both books about the Edwards family & each has it's own merit. The main thing is that they tell the story of an extraordinary individual that wanted to carve out his own place on earth without the help of hardly anyone & certainly not the help of any government. He also saved a specie from almost curtain extinction, the Trumpeter Swan, and that alone should make him a hero to anyone who has ever seen one of these magnificent birds. After reading this book & " Grass Beyond the Mountain" I went to this Area of B.C. & came away with renewed respect for these people.



2. This book is a sequel to "Crusoe of Lonesome Lake" by Leland Stowe, a quite successful book published in the late 1950s where the fascinating life of Ralph Edwards is biographed. Edwards, who can only be described as a 20th century pioneer, single-handedly carved out a homestead in the Canadian wilderness, nearly a hundred miles from his nearest neighbor.
   
   Although this book was interesting, the above-mentioned prequel by Leland Stowe was far better. In fact, in many ways I wish I had not read this one because Edwards' exploits ended on a high note in "Crusoe" whereas this book seemed to tarnish my image of the bigger-than-life Edwards portrayed in the earlier book. But, I realize that most people who read the prequel will want to know what eventually became of Edwards in his latter years, and this book answers many of those questions. I would simply admonish anyone who reads this book to absolutely get the prequel. If you read this book alone, you are getting far less than half the story of a remarkable man's life. "Crusoe" is much better written and considerably more moving.



3. Ralph Edwards of lonesome lake is a book about carving out a life for ones family in a remote wilderness. This book is such a contrast to our technical world with cell phones, internet, e mail "Big Box shopping" malls. Our lives are so full but really so empty. I felt an extreme feeling of sadness after having read this book. Ralph Edwards and his wife are now dead after having lived a hard but full life. We all struggle through life with different goals and yet we all have to face death. I felt the sadness of Ralph Edwards when he realised that he was too old to be independant and look after himself. This book has to make us all stop and concider what we are doing and what is the purpose of life. What could possibly be more important than these questions?

5 comments about Lawrence: The Uncrowned King of Arabia.

1. Having read a few books about T.E.Lawrence and his own tome I found Michael Asher's book easily the most enjoyable of the lot. Any man who took the time to physically visit the routes Lawrence (claims) to have made, has something to say. A very worthwhile book.
   
   Damien in Dublin.
   
   Sands of Death: An Epic Tale of Massacre, Cannibalism, and Survival in the Sahara
   Two Against the Sahara: On Camelback from Nouakchott to the Nile



2. Whether or not you truly want to delve into the life of Lawrence of Arabia and this particular biography depends, I think, on whether you want to preserve the dynamic image of him as portrayed in the movie Lawrence of Arabia by David Lean or want to dig deeper into the eccentric world of the real T.E. Lawrence. I myself am no Lawrence scholar and have something akin to a passing interest in him as a sort of mythological figure like Wyatt Earp or Daniel Boone. This particular book was picked up randomly at a library book sale for a quarter to supplement my knowledge of T.E. Lawrence beyond the movie and to help me prepare to read his memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom, which I've heard is quite literary and even difficult without a bit of background on Lawrence and the Arab revolt.
   
   As a writer and a scholar, Asher is reasonably capable and has adequate credentials to tell his tale. What has been mentioned in other reviews and which I'll echo here is that he unfortunately wants to interrupt the flow of Lawrence's biography by interjecting his first-person accounts of his travels around the same areas Lawrence traveled. Although this story-telling technique doesn't ruin the book, it slows down the pace and adds little if anything the reader needs or wants to know. To me, it serves as an annoying distraction. It's typical also for Asher to want to pick apart the mind of T.E. Lawrence and give some debatable theories about the motives behind Lawrence's actions. Certainly, Asher appears to do his homework and his assumptions about Lawrence seem well supported, but what is hard to take is the unequivocal nature of Asher's assertions. He himself never doubts his assumptions.
   
   However, if the reader can accept that Asher's views are valid, then the reader should also be prepared to discover that Lawrence was more than a little eccentric, something bound to undermine the beautiful myth around the man. Aside from the details given about Lawrence's truly weird need for self-debasement in the form of flagellation as well as his decision to spend his adult life after Arabia as an enlisted man in the military, what bothered me most about Lawrence as discussed by Asher was his tendency to play with facts, an inclination apparently noted by other biographers. Given the reality that reality is often subjective, I do like to know the facts as accurately as they can be reported. Apparently, Lawrence seems to have appreciated the value of propaganda and chose to exploit it to achieve his ends, which are not terribly clear. Therefore, it's hard to know the whole truth about what happened during the Arab revolt, and Asher finds numerous holes in Lawrence's story. I'm happy to report that Asher does make clear that Lawrence accomplished much of what he claims to have accomplished, so Lawrence was indeed a dynamic fellow and the right person at the right time to do what he did, but he also makes clear that there are bizarre, masochistic motives that drive Lawrence. Therefore, if you want to truly know the man behind the myth, read on. If you want to preserve a myth, watch the movie, and then read an encyclopedia for broad details about Lawrence's life and the Arab revolt.



3. I am by no means a Lawrence scholar. I picked the book up at a discount because at the time I was preparing for a deployment to Iraq and was reading everything I could on the recent history of the Middle East. I found the book well written and fascinating. Historicaly accurate? Who knows? But it was a great introduction to a Western icon closely tied with the rise of the Saudi kingdom and the current map of the Middle East. After reading this I read Lawrence's own "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" and who knows what the absolute truth was regarding Lawrence and his exploits. All I know is that this book made for a good reading. I appreciated Asher's insights into Arabic culture and customs. Certainly as we struggle to win the "hearts and minds" of the people in Iraq, any scholarship that helps us to understand how a Westerner can succesfully interact with the Arab peaple is a welcome read.



4. This is a large and invovled biography of T E Lawrence, written by an author who starts out as an admirer, and remains so to the end, though to a much lesser degree.

   Though there is a lot of information about the battles in the desert, i found this book most interesting when the author explores Lawrence's psyche and personality, and attempts (not always successfully or believably) at the truth behind the myth. He tests a lot of the claims about the great man, and mainly finds them wanting. This book is especially strong when it admits that it comes to no definate conclusion - rather, the author presents the facts as he sees them and lets the reader decide.

   This book is probably one of the better Lawrence biographies out there at the moment (though i would not say nearly the best) as it delves into the contradictions of the man and the myuth, and isn't afraid to 'pull punches' and not make excuses for the more troubling aspects of Lawrence's personality.

   I finished this book wondering why such a genius felt compelled to fabricate so much about his life, but also seeing him as more ' three-dimensional' than the common myth.




5. This book fails in many ways. The reason it gets 2 stars instead of one is that it's hard to discuss Lawrence without some fascinating things coming through.

   First, Asher makes himelf part of the biography. He discusses his own personal travels in a manner that add absolutely nothing to the reader's understanding. The final paragraph of the book begins with "I." Further, the frequency and manner in which he interjects himself in the book is highly annoying.

   Second, there are numerous factual problems with the book. At one point Asher refers to Turks shooting their rifles at Bedu who are over two miles away. Even a trained sniper with modern equipment wouldn't take that shot. Further, his description of Lt. Junor's plane crash is at odds with other accounts. Asher says the plane erupted in flames even though there are published photos of the crashed plane that show otherwise. Lastly on this point, Asher doesn't use Tunbridge's writings on Lawrence's days in the RAF as reference material. It's a surprising omission.

   Third, as other reviewers noted, Asher writes extensively about Lawrence's psyche. This would be sensible if Asher was either trained in psychology or referenced studies by those who are; unfortunately, neither is the case. Instead there are a few bibliographical references to works on psychology, but none specific to Lawrence. Asher's vehement discussion of Lawrence's mother makes the reader wonder whether the author or the subject had the greater maternal relationship issues.

   Fourth, is Asher's style, or more accurately, styles. At times he uses the contemporary jargon of British soldiers, whereas at other points he writes in a very stilted manner adding unnecessary Latin phrases to the text. His best writing is when he's providing background or contextual material such as the discussion of British military actions elsewhere in WWI.

   Lawrence was one of the most fascinating personalities of the 20th century. He deserves a much better biography.

1 comments about Jesse Chisholm: Ambassador Of The Plains.

1. My own ancestery is represented in this book (Jack Harry I) as he is called by our family. The uncle of our Great Grandfather Jack Harry II. I am from Anadarko, OK and this finally explains many of the stories and locations we all heard about as a kid, from Shirley Hill to the Tonkawa hills masssacre sites, and the understanding of how some of our people have the name Chisolm. The narrow tightrope of turmoil the tribes walked to wind up in Binger / Anadarko / Apache and Lawton is made visible and helps greatly to understand stories that we heard as kids. The previous area I search was the Texas Indian Papers and the Smithsonian, which give tidbits but not the mechanism of the period. I am deeply appreciative for this book and although it is a bit specialized, it goes beyond mere history and leaves me amazed at the people like Jessee Chisholm who did their best in a difficult time.

1 comments about The Ninth Circle: A Memoir of Life and Death in Antarctica, 1960-1962.

1. You don't notice it at first, but the plane on the cover of this book is on ski's, except that the tail ski has been knocked off and the tail of the plane is dragging on the snow. VX6, the Antartctic air squadron had an accident eight times that of the rest of Naval aviation in the rest of the world.
   
   This was the time of the Cold War, it was also the time of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in which the Vanguard rocket was going to launch the world's first satellite.
   
   This book talks about the authors experiences during (mostly) the 1960-62 time frame. It was different then. Now if you want to see the south pole just go on the net (www.cmdl.noaa.gov/obop/spo/livecamera.html) or do a search on "south pole camera." Quite a number of the authors friends and associates died in Antarctica. It was then, and still is a rather dangerous place.
   
   This is quite a tale of the search for scientific knowledge.

No comments about A Woman Tenderfoot.

2 comments about The Legend Hunter (Softcover).

1. For those of us, old enough to remember the "I search for Adventure" TV series, this is a fascinating book. We finally find out the background and the detailed travails of a great explorer. The discovery of the ancient tomb in the Peruvian desert has remained a secret that his partner Batanero has already taken to his grave. It reads well and adenture after adventure keeps the reader's interest until the last page is turned. It is too bad that the films have not been preserved.



2. Memoirs of a real-life professional explorer---a sort of "Indiana Jones with a dash of Lara Croft" who abandoned an acting career highlighted by study at the Pasadena Playhouse to travel abroad filming exotic and dangerous locales, which he then fashioned into programs for early broadcast television and the lecture circuit. This volume focuses on Latin America of the 1950's and includes a varied cast of characters from a former driver for the German general Erwin Rommel to an intrepid female journalist of the time, one Barbara Holbrook who clearly left a strong impression on the author.