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A biography of the woman who, indirectly, was the catalyst for many of the troubles in the Middle East, including the Gulf War. In 1918, Gertrude Bell drew the region's proposed boundaries on a piece of tracing paper. Her qualifications for doing so were her extensive travel, her fluency in both Persian and Arabic, and her relationships with sheiks and tribal and religious leaders. She also possessed an ability to understand the subtle and indirect politeness of the culture, something many of her colonialist comrades were oblivious to. As a self-made statesman her sex was an asset, enabling her to bypass the ladder of protocol and dive into the business of building an Empire.
Book Description
Turning away from the privileged world of the "eminent Victorians," Gertrude Bell (1868—1926) explored, mapped, and excavated the world of the Arabs. Recruited by British intelligence during World War I, she played a crucial role in obtaining the loyalty of Arab leaders, and her connections and information provided the brains to match T. E. Lawrence's brawn. After the war, she played a major role in creating the modern Middle East and was, at the time, considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire.
In this masterful biography, Janet Wallach shows us the woman behind these achievements–a woman whose passion and defiant independence were at odds wit the confined and custom-bound England she left behind. Too long eclipsed by Lawrence, Gertrude Bell emerges at last in her own right as a vital player on the stage of modern history, and as a woman whose life was both a heartbreaking story and a grand adventure.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding woman, mediocre biography........2007-08-23
As has been mentioned by others, I too wonder at the literary excesses of this book. "She sensed his profound hunger....". "....her heart pounding, her cheeks burning hot, and as his blue eyes burned with desire, he took her in his arms".
Gertrude Bell, an outstanding woman, deserves a better, a more maturely written biography. Thankfully, they are out there.
This book needed an editor.......2007-08-05
I began to read this book with anticipation. I was a put off by the sort of breathless tone more worthy of a bad romance novel.
About twenty pages in, I was surprised by a reference to the Ottoman Empire expanding since the 13th century from Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire expanded around Constantinople from the 13th to the 15th centuries, until they finally took the city in 1453, and promptly renamed it Istanbul.
I soldiered on, until I was informed that British were fighting Germans in the Boer war in the late 1890s. The Boers, descended from Dutch colonists, would have been surprised to hear themselves described as German.
These two mistakes, obvious to anyone with a decent knowledge of history, ruined my willingness to accept anything else in the book. I put down the book, never knowing if Miss Bell was able to overcome her lost early love.
Gertrude Bell's life seems to be worthy of a good biography. This isn't it.
Insightful Read.......2007-07-04
A book which skilfully interweaves historical facts with the anecdotes and day-to-day life of a woman struggling to find her place in the Middle East.
Was left with a sense of awe from her accomplishments and the beginnings of an inkling as to the political and religious turmoil and troubles of this region based on the history retold by Janet Wallach.
Desert Queen: The extraordinary Lief of Gertrude Bell.......2007-03-09
I only wish George W and Chaney would have read this book before entering into War with Iraq. The history of British rule and their failure to solve the Tribal problems at the establishment of Iraq as a new State after the breakup of the Otterman Empire. This only proves that History can repeat itself.
If Only Washington Leaders Would All Read This Book.......2007-01-23
Yes, I would venture to say that anyone who reads this book as well as Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" would be better qualified to shape US foreign policy in the Middle East than those who are now doing that... When will we ever learn?
Book Description
Who was this man who could walk through brick walls and, with a snap of his fingers, vanish elephants? In these pages you will meet the astonishing Houdini—magician, ghost chaser, daredevil, pioneer aviator, and king of escape artists. No jail cell or straitjacket could hold him! He shucked off handcuffs as easily as gloves.
In this fresh, witty biography of the most famous bamboozler since Merlin, Sid Fleischman, a former professional magician, enriches his warm homage with insider information and unmaskings. Did Houdini really pick the jailhouse lock to let a fellow circus performer escape? Were his secrets really buried with him? Was he a bum magician, as some rivals claimed? How did he manage to be born in two cities, in two countries, on two continents at the same instant?
Here are the stories of how a knockabout kid named Ehrich Weiss, the son of an impoverished rabbi, presto-changoed himself into the legendary Harry Houdini. Here, too, are rare photographs never before seen by the general reader!
Customer Reviews:
Escape!: The Story of the Great Houdini.......2007-08-06
Harry Houdini's showmanship made him a standout among magicians. Author Sid Fleischman uses the same technique to stand out in the crowded field of Houdini biographies. Escape! captures readers with its flamboyant vocabulary, humor, insider understanding, wonderful photographs with excellent captions and a clearly stated theme which shapes the details of an exciting life. Fleischman organizes this rags-to-riches tale around Houdini's shameless vanity that supported his "megaphone self-promotion" of his self-made legend: sharing that Houdini doctored facts and photographs. Fleischman analyzes Houdini's family relationships, evaluates his career and lasting fame, and explains them to youngsters as part human flaw, part the need to escape anti-Semitism, and part the drive to trump all competitors and fakes. The self-taught Houdini never had a magic lesson. Loyalty to fellow magicians keeps author-magician Fleischman from revealing Houdini's methods, although his bibliography includes books that tell all.
Hungarian Jewish immigrant Ehrich Weiss, searching for a way to financially aid his poor family, finds vaudeville and his stage name, The Great Houdini. Ironically, Houdini later unmasks his youthful idol and name inspiration, Robert-Houdin. This biography dramatically recounts what Houdini got out of: handcuffs, milk cans, straight jackets, jail cells, frozen rivers and coffins. It also spotlights what he got into: airplanes and first-flight records; entertaining troops during World War I; supporting the sons of rabbis, who like himself, performed on the stage; movies; the Encyclopaedia Britannica; the Library of Congress and a crusade bashing phony spiritualists.
Fleishman's rich, intimate account is possible from two special boosts to normal biographical research. He had access to material published privately for magicians and he knew Houdini's widow, Bess, who gave him information and photographs. From the clever table of contents to the sad postmortem, this book overflows with fun facts delivered by out of the ordinary colorful language proving reading can be magic. A treat for readers age 9 - adult.
Escape: The Story of the Great Houdini.......2007-05-31
The book was an interesting read. It showed how exciting Houdini actually was. It was well written and even though it's nonfiction, it was exciting. This information was well-done enough so I could use it for a sixth grade report.
Okay.......2007-05-05
This book wasn't my favorite biography, a couple of the photographs were kind of strange, like when a woman has ghost essence coming out of her ear and the "What-is-it?" monster. The story was pretty good, although I had to go back a couple of times and re-read the sentence to understand what it was really saying. I found out some interesting Houdini facts that I never had known before, such as his real name was Ehrich Weiss. He also didn't know his birth date. I might recommend this to others, although I don't really know.
For Magicians Of All Ages!.......2007-03-13
I bought this book for a Valentine's present for my husband, who has been doing magic tricks and illusions since he was a young boy. He has always been fascinated by the Great Houdini, so when I saw this book, I took a chance. We have both enjoyed this book tremendously. It is written in very nice, simple language, with large print, and wonderful never-seen before photos. I would highly recommend this little magical gem!
A 2007 Association of Jewish Libraries Notable Book for Older Readers.......2007-01-29
Biographies can be dull and plodding, but this one is just the opposite. Partly because of the nature of the subject - the fascinating magician, illusionist, and escape artist Harry Houdini - and partly because of the bright prose of the author, this biography is engaging, humorous, and a pleasure to read. It is full of colorful language like prestidigitator, bamboozler, razzmatazz, razzle-dazzle, ragamuffin, derring-do, braggadocio, boondocks, bunkum, and blunderbuss. It is also infused with the showman's Jewish side, recalling Houdini's birth as Ehrich Weiss to an impoverished but scholarly rabbi in a Budapest ghetto, his self-invention and brashness as an immigrant, the effects of anti-Semitism, and his lifelong love of learning. According to the author, Jews are significant in the history of magic. Along the way we get a history lesson in vaudeville and other popular entertainments in turn of the century America and Europe. We also see Houdini as quite the overachiever; in addition to his legendary feats, he was an author, editor, pilot, and collector of magician memorabilia. REVIEWED BY SUSAN BERSON (DENVER, CO)
Book Description
A new one-volume abridged edition of Cook's famous journals--"a majestic story of epic proportions"(Philip Edwards in the Introduction)
Captain Cook's Journals provide his vivid first-hand account of three extraordinary expeditions between 1768 and 1779. These charted the entire coast of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia and brought back detailed descriptions of Tahiti, Tonga, and a host of previously unknown islands in the Pacific including the Hawaiian Islands. The journals amply reveal the determination, courage, and skill that enabled Cook to wrestle with the continuous dangers of uncharted seas and the problems of achieving a relationship with the peoples whose unannounced guest he became. This edition, abridged from the definitive four-volume Hakluyt Society edition, makes Cook's inimitable personal account of his years of voyaging widely accessible for the first time and includes an Introduction to each voyage, a Glossary of unusual words, indexes of people and places, and a Postscript assessing the controversy surrounding Cook's death.
Selected and Edited with Introductions by Philip Edwards
Customer Reviews:
A dry tedious read.......2007-07-20
I wanted to like this book. I really did. When I saw it online, I thought that it looked interesting. The few reviews were favorable. I enjoy maritime tales, stories and life. I thought that pirates and life aboard ships were interesting decades ago.
This was a slow, monotonous account. At least all that I could read for three days. Then I lost interest. I have read period pieces before. However the abbreviations and some of the words I just could not decipher.
If you want to attempt to figure out this book, I wish you luck. If you do, maybe you could explain it to me. :)
Cook Lite.......2005-04-04
I wish I had read the reviews before paying for this. The key word for this edition is ABRIDGED. According to the editor Philip Edward's introduction, only about a third of Cook's/Beaglehole's text is included.
READ THIS ALONGSIDE RICHARD HOUGH'S BIOGRAPHY.......2003-06-05
This is a spectacularly interesting journal. Cook was an odd sort, that's for sure. But a genius? I'd certainly say so after reading his often-daily account of his activities. Really neat book.
A detailed account of Cook's voyages.......2001-04-05
This well prepared abridged edition of Captain James Cook's journals is a specialized book of interest to people studying the exploration of the Pacific and/or the British Navy of that time period. Other people might find sections of it dry reading. The book is recommended for oceanography students as the 17th century voyages of exploration formed the basis for later oceanographic cruises.
Cook's voyages carried scientific personnel of that time period, many of whom died from the harsh conditions along with members of the crews. In addition to bad weather, there were diseases and hostile natives (including cannibals). Extensive charting was carried out and, on the second voyage, the Board of Longitude supplied Cook with Larcum Kendall's copy of John Harrison's H4 watch for determining longitude. Observations were made of prevailing winds, currents, temperature, and other things of scientific interest.
Natives throughout the Pacific would go to great lengths to obtain iron, expecially axes, even prostituting their wives and daughters (willing or not). Natives would attempt to steal items, if they could, leading to numerous confrontations including one in which a boat crew of the Adventure (the consort ship of the second voyage) were killed and eaten by the Maori natives of New Zealand.
Cook's journal ended several weeks before his death. The editor fills in details from journals of other people who were on the voyage, and speculates on the reason he was killed by the natives in Hawaii.
The book includes maps of Cook's routes on his voyages. It also has an index listing the names of the various individuals mentioned, with an indication of their positions on the voyages or their other positions if they were not active participants.
A classic re-launched.......2000-07-18
This re-issue of the Beaglehole edition of the Cook journals attests to the enduring importance of Cook as the exemplar navigator and Beaglehole as his nautical Boswell.
The writing is elegant and subtle and the fascination of the recital enduring.
Best there is no other!
Book Description
With the utterance of a single line—“Doctor Livingstone, I presume?”—a remote meeting in the heart of Africa was transformed into one of the most famous encounters in exploration history. But the true story behind Dr. David Livingstone and journalist Henry Morton Stanley is one that has escaped telling. Into Africa is an extraordinarily researched account of a thrilling adventure—defined by alarming foolishness, intense courage, and raw human achievement.
In the mid-1860s, exploration had reached a plateau. The seas and continents had been mapped, the globe circumnavigated. Yet one vexing puzzle remained unsolved: what was the source of the mighty Nile river? Aiming to settle the mystery once and for all, Great Britain called upon its legendary explorer, Dr. David Livingstone, who had spent years in Africa as a missionary. In March 1866, Livingstone steered a massive expedition into the heart of Africa. In his path lay nearly impenetrable, uncharted terrain, hostile cannibals, and deadly predators. Within weeks, the explorer had vanished without a trace. Years passed with no word.
While debate raged in England over whether Livingstone could be found—or rescued—from a place as daunting as Africa, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the brash American newspaper tycoon, hatched a plan to capitalize on the world’s fascination with the missing legend. He would send a young journalist, Henry Morton Stanley, into Africa to search for Livingstone. A drifter with great ambition, but little success to show for it, Stanley undertook his assignment with gusto, filing reports that would one day captivate readers and dominate the front page of the New York Herald.
Tracing the amazing journeys of Livingstone and Stanley in alternating chapters, author Martin Dugard captures with breathtaking immediacy the perils and challenges these men faced. Woven into the narrative, Dugard tells an equally compelling story of the remarkable transformation that occurred over the course of nine years, as Stanley rose in power and prominence and Livingstone found himself alone and in mortal danger. The first book to draw on modern research and to explore the combination of adventure, politics, and larger-than-life personalities involved, Into Africa is a riveting read.
Customer Reviews:
An Unusual Meeting in Central Africa.......2007-09-15
Dugard is one of the new breed of biographer, in that he knows that every- mans life is made up of truth and fiction. At his best he gives us the more interesting side of both but is always faithful in explaining what has become myth and what can be documented. The life of David Livingstone has become so entangled with his myth that even after reading his diaries it's hard to tell how much is true and how much was perceived as true.
When it comes to Stanley, who reinvented himself so many times not to mention his change of name, always leaves the impression that he has taken the time to edit his journals and diaries. He is very seldom shown to be introspective, except when he uses those emotions to further his own myth. He was a driven man who could never settle for what he had done before, and had to do more than anyone else. The story of Livingstone being found by Stanley at a little village in the Lakes Region of Africa would have been so much more powerful if it had not been deconstructed and rebuilt so many times.
In this format, Stanley finds Livingstone sitting on the front porch of his house/hut and goes over to introduce himself. They are both civilized men who have been beaten down by the nature of Africa and have past the point of exhaustion. Livingstone is on the edge of starvation and has been for the last year. Stanley has crossed parts of Africa which Africans and Arab Slavers fear to go into. I can see Stanley (who idolized Livingstone) being uncertain of how to say hello, and therefore being as differential as possible.
Dugard does a wonderful job of putting both men into the context of the societies they lived in and the people they depended on. It's a fine and interesting story.
tremendous.......2007-03-24
I learned about Livingstone and Stanley briefly in my middle-school years. The details that I remember from that learning experience are sparse, and do nothing to describe the characters in the story.
This book fleshed out the lives of two men in marvelous detail. I never understood the humanity of Livingstone (I knew he was a missionary, a detail that tends to deify someone in my mind). I never understood the nature of Stanley and what drove him to find Livingstone when no one else could. These men were larger than life - both an inspiration to persevere where no one else can or will. Their accomplishments are worlds apart, but equally remarkable.
Stanley and Livingstone's Eponymous Adventure.......2007-01-03
Nearly everyone of a certain age knows "Stanley and Livingstone" and the memorable line "Dr. Livingstone, I presume." It's just one of those cultural snippets that gets passed down. Martin Dugard's interesting book gives the story to that shared and brief tidbit. Quite a story it is.
Dr. Livingstone was a poor boy who made good in Victorian England by earning the admiration of the better classes through exploration and perseverance in Darkest Africa. He would spend most of his adult life on the continent, greatly expanding European knowledge of the geography and peoples there. First as a missionary and later as a great explorer determined to find the source of the Nile River, Livingstone was in his own way a man of peace with great sympathy for Africa and Africans. He particularly detested the very active slave trade and slave raids run by Arabs between the interior and the central eastern coast of the continent.
Henry Stanley started life as poor and unmoored as one could be in that day and age. A young crewman out of England on a boat headed to New Orleans, he see destined to finish an early life as one of those mid 19th century petty criminals and ne'er-do-wells who described the seedy side of life. He managed to enlist in both the Union and Confederate armies and fight for both during the Civil War. He had though developed a passion for reading and found himself in the newspaper business out west as a free lance journalist. This occupation would be his life raft. Eventually ending up at the New York Herald, Stanley showed a willingness to go anywhere and endure great hardship to deliver what would today be considered blockbuster news to the voracious readership each of New York's twenty some papers competed for.
Dr. Livingstone's quest for the source of the Nile got him lost, physically weak, and stranded without the resources to get out of the interior. His English patrons and the world feared him lost, and his whereabouts were a source of great concern and focus. Here was Stanley's opportunity. With the promise of his publisher's help (although Stanley had to talk his way into a lot of credit), the journalist outfitted a secret expedition to find Livingstone and bring the story of his demise or rescue to the world. After almost a year of hard slogging through jungle and desert, mutinous porters and expedition members, participation in a native war, dalliance with Arab slavers, death and desperation on the trail and worry that he wouldn't find his needle-in-a-haystack, Stanley arrived at a village to discover a thin, sickly and ragged man much of the world had given up for lost and to whom he was able to greet with the immortal line "Dr. Livingstone I presume."
This is a well written adventure book that will fascinate on many levels. It offers a great portrait of Stanley and Livingstone as men and the great hardships that shaped their lives. Nineteenth Century exploration in Africa with all the disease, war, slavery, and beauty are painted well on the author's canvass. The motivations and mindsets of two men-of-action are thoroughly explored. This book weaves all of the above elements into a gripping story that is well worth the time.
GREAT INTRO TO AFRICAN EXPLORATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY.......2006-07-23
This book tells the intertwined tales of David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley. Dugard (the author) puts together a very well written story, giving the reader context to be excited when the culminating moment of "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" comes about.
The book provides a begginer on African exploration (such as myself) with a very good understanding of the context in Africa and England, as the Victorian era of exploration is at its best. Characters such as Murchison, Burton and Speke are described in detail as to their accomplishments. The reader also gets a good understanding of the discussion behind the source of the Nile and the difficulties involved in determining it.
The personal lives of Livingstone and Stanley are an integral part of the story. The tale how Stanley rose through newspaper ranks in NY and provided scoops on different European wars ahead of european reporters. His dubious character is portrayed in his experiences in Turkey, where he became a robber and was close to losing his life.
This is a rather short book -- 300 pages -- which can be read in a few sittings. If you are interested in exploration or would just like to know what these historical characters were up to, this is a very good book. It may drive the reader to the point of such curiosity that you may find yourself picking up a few of the books authored by the characters themselves (of which there are many).
Very interesting and educational treatise.......2006-05-03
"Doctor Livingstone I presume?" is undoubtedly one of the most well known quotes in history. Very few people, however, are familiar with the history underlying the meeting of Dr. David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley.
This book details the lives of the two men and the historical background through which they were thrown together. Livingstone, one of the foremost explorers of his day is searching for the source of the Nile River. Through a combination of bad luck, poor planning, disease, weather, natives, etc., Livingstone is virtually stranded on the banks of Lake Tangyanika.
Henry Stanley, a newspaper correspondent undertakes a rescue mission at the direction of his publicity hungry publisher. This book details that mission and the international setting under which it took place. The perils of African exploration in the late 19th century cannot be overstated. This book does an excellent job impressing this upon the reader.
I found this book very similar in style and experience to Undaunted Courage (which detailed the Voyage of Discovery undertaken by Lewis and Clark) and River of Doubt (dealing with Theodore Roosevelt's exploration of the Amazon basin. If you enjoyed either of these books, you will like this one as well. If you read this book and enjoy it, I highly recommend the other two.
Average customer rating:
- Great Book!
- Great book for introducing the Iditarod to children
- Balto: not just for kids
- A teacher in PA
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Balto and the Great Race (Stepping Stone)
Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
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The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto (Step-Into-Reading)
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Togo
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Akiak: A Tale From the Iditarod
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Balto
ASIN: 0679891986
Release Date: 1999-12-21 |
Book Description
Balto has a quiet life as a sled dog—until tragedy strikes. Dozens of children in Nome become sick with diphtheria. Without antitoxin serum, they will perish—and the closest supply is 650 miles away! The only way to get the serum to Nome is by sled, but can the dogs deliver it in time? Heading bravely into a brutal blizzard, Balto leads the race for life.
A Kansas City Children’s Book Award for Grades 1–3
Customer Reviews:
Great Book!.......2005-05-01
Just so you'd know, this book is not denouncing Togo. It is merely telling Balto's side of the story. And it is a courageous one taht deserves to be well-known. There.
One day, a serious diptheria epidemic breaks out in Nome. Sled dogs are selected to deliver serum to the town before time runs out. Will they succeed?
This compelling book tells the story of Balto's brave and graet contribution to this race (he never tried to claim all the credit!), and I would recommend it even to Leonhard Seppala, so he would stop despising Balto, but sadly, he is now dead.
Great book for introducing the Iditarod to children.......2005-04-01
If you love the Iditarod and you want your children (or children you're fond of) to be introduced to this great race, the story of Balto and the Great Race by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel is a good place to start, beginning with the cover illustration by Nora Köerber. This book is a Stepping Stones chapter book with black and white illustrations throughout.
At the beginning of the book is a map of Alaska showing the Iditarod railroad and dogsled trail, along with some illustrations depicting the basic story of this great race against time to get much-needed diphtheria serum to Nome in 1925.
Balto is a Siberian husky born to run, and to lead. He guided his musher, Gunnar Kaasen, into Nome on the final leg of the journey, when only this magnificent dog could sense the way through a terrible, deadly blizzard with no trail to follow and wind at such strength it tossed Kaasen and dogsled into the air, almost losing their precious cargo. A short time before this near disaster, Balto saved the team from going through the ice to certain death. His instincts were in the realm of the supernatural and his devotion to the task at hand human in awareness.
It states on the back cover that this book is for children in grades 1-3. As the Cleveland Museum of Natural History states on the same back cover, "Balto's story is one of courage, cooperation and inspiration, and personal sacrifice for the greater good."
Carolyn Rowe Hill
Balto: not just for kids.......2002-01-27
We purchased this book after seeing the real Balto (courtesy of the art of taxidermy) at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Our quest in Northeast Ohio, where Balto enjoyed his senior years, was prompted by my seven year-old daughter's love-affair with the animated film about this dog, who navigated a lost sled team carrying life-saving medicine through Alaska in 1925. I hereby confess publicly that, after myself reading the book, which is aimed at the 9 year-old set, I cried, much as I had done 35 years before after reading "Lassie Come Home." This account, however, is much more compelling than "Lassie" or "Old Yeller," because it entirely factual (possibly excepting the subjective thoughts imputed to the protagonist).
The author did her homework researching this story about a sled dog who was just one of the pack facing poor odds against daunting weather and unrequiting expanses of blinding snow and ice. When the alpha dog loses the trail, and another refuses to lead, the team turns to Balto to bring them and their cargo safely to rest in Nome.
Perhaps Balto deserves an authentic, grown-up biography, but this one will serve in the meantime. It appears to be the definitive account.
A teacher in PA.......2000-05-03
This is an excellent book if you are interested in the Iditarod race in Alaska.The book helps young children understand the importance of perserverence and is a great introduction to history for the very young (6-8).A true story that inspires people to understand the bond between animals and people.
Amazon.com
Never mind that upon her death in 1993, the then 100-year-old Dame Freya Stark rated a three-column obit in The New York Times. Mention her name to most Americans, and it will elicit a "Freya who?" The tales and travails of this romantic traveler, who marched alone into the Middle East from Persia to Yemen, discovering lost cities and creating an anti-Nazi intelligence system along the way, are captured in this compelling biography by former New York Times reporter Jane Fletcher Geniesse.
The author unveils not the fearless wanderer whose mappings and 30 books brought Stark awards from the likes of the Royal Geographical Society and made her a darling of British society. Instead Stark is seen as humble, insecure, and forever caught in the role of perpetual alien--be it when the English-born child grows up in Italy, where her mother lives in scandal, or when she plunges alone into the East, a feat never before accomplished by a Westerner.
An unwilling iconoclast whose love of travel, she would say, began as an infant when her father carried her in a basket over the Dolomites, Stark longed for the social security of the times: marriage and children. Proposals fell through, on occasion her beloved was married, or the romantic emotions she felt went unrequited--and besides, as a friend later pointed out, marriage would have spoiled her with its confinements. Rising above depression, self-imposed ostracism, and her numerous illnesses, Stark learned Arabic and how to climb mountains, map, partake in geographical digs, and find a niche in strange cultures.
Initially ridiculed for her passionate fondness of the Middle East, her writings ultimately generated vast interest for that mysterious part of the world, where she was surprisingly embraced, made privy to political movements closed to most foreigners, and even shown precious Islamic documents. At times a nurse, a war correspondent, a negotiator, Stark was a one-woman revolution of her time. Geniesse's intoxicating documentation of her life not only serves to stir up new interest in Stark's many books; it also ensures that the name Freya Stark will live on long after her obituary is but a scrap of yellowed, crackling newsprint. --Melissa Rossi
Book Description
Freya Stark—traveler, explorer, Arabist, and woman of letters—began the extraordinary adventures that would glamorize her—and would catapult her into public life for the next sixty years—in 1927. And with the publication of The Valley of the Assassins in 1934, her legend was launched.
Leaving behind a miserable family life, Freya set out, at the age of thirty-four, to explore remote and dangerous regions of the Middle East. She was captured in 1927 by the French military police after penetrating their cordon around the rebellious Druze. She explored the mountainous territory of the mysterious Assassins of Persia, became the first woman to explore Luristan in western Iran, and followed ancient frankincense routes to locate a lost city. Admired by British officialdom, her knowledge of Middle Eastern languages and culture aided the military and diplomatic corps, for whom she conceived an effective propaganda network during WWII.
But Stark’s indomitable spirit was forged by contradictions, her high-profile wanderings often masking deep insecurities. A child of privilege, she grew up in near poverty; she longed for love, but consistently focused on the wrong men. This is a brilliant and balanced biography—filled with sheikhs, diplomats, nomad warriors and chieftains, generals, would be lovers, and luminaries. Author Jane Geniesse digs beneath the mythology to uncover a complex, quixotic, and controversial woman.
Customer Reviews:
David Neel, Mallart et al.......2007-06-11
My Journey to Lhasa: The Classic Story of the Only Western Woman Who Succeeded in Entering the Forbidden CityForbidden Journey (Marlboro Travel)I don't understand why other great women travellers are not mentioned in any of these reviews. If you like this author, don't forget about Alexandra David-Neel who paved the way and Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Ella Maillart who traced their own unique paths. All but Schwarzenbach have been translated into English and are available from amazon.
another "thumbs-up" vote.......2006-12-31
Having just scrolled through the other reviews, I don't have anything to add except the comment that I am another fan of this book. I think the author did a good job of bringing this complex, interesting woman to life.
Fascinating story of a complex historic figure.......2006-11-12
Freya Start was a pioneer in her day -- a remarkable and complex woman whose intellectual curiosity led her to explore a region --the Middle East-- where few Western women felt comfortable to go in company, let alone, as a solo traveler. THis book describes her character as it developed over time, headstrong, determined, and driven to compensate for her plain features and disfigured face with daring adventures. Her advise and counsel to the British foreign office proved to be amazingly prescient, though she was not always heeded. A very good book of historical and human significance.
Passionate Nomad.......2005-10-15
Another amazing book about another amazing British lady of the ealy 1900's. Gertrude Bell (Desert Queen ) and Freya Stark are two incredible women who broke all the barriers of their era. Another must read for those interested in the development of the Middle East in the early 1900's, the cultures of these people and the strength and determination of an incredible woman in a time when only men ruled the world.
A fascinating historical landmark.......2005-08-24
The book offers a well-researched and - presented insight into the life a remarkable woman who had a passion for the region we know as the Middle-East; who lived amongst the people in the region and observed their way of life and worldview with an open mind and with immense humanity, an attitude uncharacteristic of her compatriots.
Book Description
Commonly regarded as the greatest sea explorer of all time, James Cook made his three world-changing voyages during the 1770s, at a time when ships were routinely lost around the English coast. He made history by making geography-- sailing through previously unknown southern seas, charting the eastern Australian coast and circumnavigating New Zealand, putting many Pacific islands on the map, and exploring both the Arctic and Antarctic. His men suffered near shipwreck, were ravaged by tropical diseases, and survived frozen oceans; his lieutenants-- including George Vancouver and William Bligh-- became celebrated captains in their own right. Exploits among native peoples combined to make Cook a celebrity and a legend.
Cook is not, however, viewed by all as a heroic figure. Some Hawaiians demonize him as a syphilitic rascist who had a catastrophic effect on local health. Indigenous Australians often see him as the violent dispossessor of their lands. Nicholas Thomas explores Cook's contradictory character as never before, by reconstructing the many sides of encounters that were curious and unusual for Europeans and natives alike. The result of twenty years' research, Thomas's magnificently rich portrait overturns the familiar images of Cook and reveals the fascinating and far more ambiguous figure beneath.
Customer Reviews:
A good history.......2006-08-17
Fewer things are better than a good sea story dealing with unexplored regions of the world. Captain James Cook's British Naval expeditions in the late 1700's were some of the last expeditions to the unexplored parts of the world. For introducing the subject and telling a good story, Thomas does an excellent job of introducing the reader to the inherent problems in leading a naval and scientific expedition and first contact with Pacific Islanders.
In many ways, today's outer space missions are less complicated than Cook's expeditions.
The anthropology sections of this book are the weakest sections, but there are simply few ways to understand the native Pacific islanders of Hawaii and Polynesia and the Maori peoples of New Zealand and Aborigines of Australia.
Cook's legacy is somewhat mixed in the Pacific basin, though to his credit, he handled first contact issues as well as he probably could. His death that resulted from an altercation with some Hawaiian tribe members was a bit of a tragedy, for few of his generation had as much patience in dealing with the inherent issues of Western and native interaction.
For the reader wanting a solid introduction to one of history's greatest explorers and one of the greatest sea stories, this is a worthwhile book.
The People on the Beach.......2006-03-28
Before reading this book, most of what I knew about Captain Cook was from high school (not much) and from a vacation or two in Hawaii complete with visits to historic sites. I saw it at the library and checked it out because I am enrolled in a "Pacific Islanders in the U.S." course at my local junior college, and because I'm planning another vacation in Hawaii and want to feel more grounded in the history of the place while I'm there.
I thought the book was great. It really cut through a lot of the mythology that surrounds what most of us are taught about Cook, to the real person, with failings as well as strengths. What I loved was I felt I got both perspectives, Cook's as well as the point of view of the People he encountered on the islands. One thing I got from the book is that Cook missed a lot. His journal records his perspective, but as well-meaning as it might be, that perspective was narrow and often limited by his own background. The island kingdoms he encountered, in Tonga, Hawaii and others were politically complex, and socially and culturally rich. Power plays were being made, not only by Cook, but by the People on the beach. I thought the presentation was balanced, and fascinating, and I am grateful for having read a book that allows me to think about this moment in history, and the islands themselves, in a broader way.
A good read, strange word choice at times........2005-09-30
The history, anthropology and sociology presented are well written at least 90% of the time. At other times the writer seems to get bogged down in making hindsighted judgments about certain situations and injects quite a bit of his personal thoughts... but hey it's his book and it's not sold as being a dry history book. It is all about Cook and the impact his expeditions had on the local islanders.
I would have rated the book higher had it not been for some very poor word choices that caught me off guard (read "profanity"). Including the fairly random use of the "F" word at one point in the book, which really seemed out of place and truly bizarre.
The maori were cannibals!.......2005-07-08
Unlike other accounts, this book doesnt start with Cook's heritage, but rather dives straight into Cooks voyages. Although his heritage plays significant roles in his decision making process, there is no need to waste pages. Instead the book recounts a remarkable journey that makes for simple yet eloquent reading. Accounts of European contact with Polynesian natives are griping and wildly descriptive. While university professors in Hawaii tend to blast Cook, most of them are informed by mostly biased sources. Here, the story remains unbiased and allows the reader to see Cook for who he really was: an amazing navigator, an amateur anthropologist, a steady diplomat, and a supurb leader among men. The heinous actions Cook committed has been expressed at face value by Hawaiian instructors, but Thomas goes into the whys rather than the whats. This is an excellent book on leadership as well.
Excellent account marred by a few lapses in style.......2005-05-11
I am not sure that the reviewers who complained about the "political correctness" of this title actually read the same book that I did. Nicholas Thomas presents an interesting, thoroughly researched, and balanced account of Cook's three voyages. Rather than depicting Cook as a malicious abuser of native societies, I was surprised to find that Cook was remarkably understanding, for his time, of cultural differences. The account of Cook's death in Hawaii (I trust I am not giving anything away), which to some extent was provoked by an unfortunate coincidence having to do with the native religion, was particularly fascinating.
My one quibble with the book, for which I deduct "one star", is with the style: first person asides, gratuitous use of the "F-word", and a sprinkling of contractions (e.g., "I'm", "they're"--this is a book, for heaven's sake, not a post-it note!). It is too bad that an otherwise excellent and scholarly work was marred by inelegant language.
Book Description
A step-by-step guide to performing the death-defying stunts you thought were only possible in the movies.
For the millions of armchair daredevils who made Worst Case Scenario a mega bestzseller, Hunter Fulghum offers an even more hair-raising handbook. The result of persistent probing, diligent research, and outrageous phone calls to institutions like Fort Knox and the Pentagon, Don't Try This at Home gives thrill seekers everywhere the insider information they crave to show them how to perform feats such as:
*Conduct a SWAT Team hostage
*Rappel off the Eiffel Tower
*Borrow the Mona Lisa
*Form an independent nation
*Break into Buckingham Palace
*Catch a great white shark
*Meet aliens at Area 51
Filled with step-by-step instructions, including lists of necessary tools, timing tips, and helpful illustrations, Don't Try This at Home provides the ultimate guide to doing the impossible.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting and goofy.......2007-02-22
Some are more realistic than others, but all are entertaining. I'll certainly allow this book when I start my own nation off the coast of Africa.
Need Something Amusing to Read?.......2006-03-22
I've found Don't Try This At Home to be lighthearted and fun. It's also impractical and seems to be based largely on complete fantasy. What is it about you ask? Think of it as a 264 page Do-It-Yourself guide for the armchair adventurer.
Megalomaniacs will want to skip right to "Form an Independent Nation". In just 8 short pages, Fulghum describes the steps you'd need to complete. Like most of the items in the book, Forming an Independent Nation does have a large number of prerequisites. For example you will need "hard currency", especially if you choose to acquire your nation through peaceful means. Well no worries, just check out Fulghum's section on stealing gold from Fort Knox.
Thrill seekers, there's plenty of material here for you too. Good starting points are "Fly Through the Eye of a Hurricane" or "Guide and Surface a Nuclear Sub through Ice". My personal favorite is "Drive a Tank through a Tornado". Fulghum says the tank is "available from the US Army, contact the Pentagon to arrange purchase or lease". Does anyone have a phone number?
This stuff might work!.......2005-10-18
So help me, a lot of this stuff might actually work... Of course most of their ideas would take more time, money and resources than i'll ever have, but they're fun to think about!
All you need to know about things you don't need to know.......2004-05-12
Imagine calling Fort Knox and asking the best way to break in and steal the gold. Don't have the guts for it? Don't worry, because Hunter Fulghum has done it for you. He has contacted everyone from the U.S. Dept. of Energy to his local alien experts to find out how you would do everything from Swim the English Channel to Borrow the Mona Lisa to Start an Independant Nation.
Aside from being funny and quite interesting, the book is very well written; I highly recommend it.
Good book.......2004-03-18
Great fun to read, though some of it is a bit obvious... By the way I am starting an independant nation, got this book because I figured I might as well. I was already planning on starting it before I got the book. Getting an island from Nicaragua to make it. Anyways good book. Get it.
Book Description
Darwin took his books aboard the Beagle. Swift and Defoe used his experiences as inspiration in writing Gulliver’s Travels and Robinson Crusoe. Captain Cook relied on his observations while voyaging around the world. Coleridge called him a genius and “a man of exquisite mind.” In the history of exploration, nobody has ventured further than Englishman William Dampier. Yet while the exploits of Cook, Shackleton, and a host of legendary explorers have been widely chronicled, those of perhaps the greatest are virtually invisible today—an omission that Diana and Michael Preston have redressed in this vivid, compelling biography.
As a young man Dampier spent several years in the swashbuckling company of buccaneers in the Caribbean. At a time when surviving one voyage across the Pacific was cause for celebration, Dampier ultimately journeyed three times around the world; his bestselling books about his experiences were a sensation, influencing generations of scientists, explorers, and writers. He was the first to deduce that winds cause currents and the first to produce wind maps across the world, surpassing even the work of Edmund Halley. He introduced the concept of the “sub-species” that Darwin later built into his theory of evolution, and his description of the breadfruit was the impetus for Captain Bligh’s voyage on the Bounty. Dampier reached Australia 80 years before Cook, and he later led the first formal expedition of science and discovery there.
A Pirate of Exquisite Mind
restores William Dampier to his rightful place in history—one of the pioneers on whose insights our understanding of the natural world was built.
Customer Reviews:
Book that takes you around the world.......2007-07-27
This book about 17th Century Explorer William Dampier really surprised me - it was so good! I received the book as a gift and it turned out to be one of those books that I might not have chosen on my own, but I really enjoyed.
The book chronicles Dampier's 3 voyages around the world, is interesting, and super easy to read. Two thumbs up for sure.
Pleeeze don't call him "pirate!" He was just along for the ride ..........2007-04-21
Ol' Cap'n Bill plundered only knowledge - couldn't keep two pieces of eight together to save his life. In fact, when he crossed the Isthmus of Panama, he was a lot more worried about keeping his charts dry than about the gold. Trouble was, nobody in his earlier days ever thought about funding a mission for pure scientific research - at least 'til Edmund Halley's voyage in about 1702 or so. And the only British vessels heading into the Pacific had to subsidize their own voyages (at the expense of the Dons, of course). So what was an insatiably curious soul to do? He stuck out his thumb, sailed everywhere -- and I mean EVERYWHERE! and if he's no longer at sea, he's now in print -- everywhere! Don't believe me? Pick up ANY book on exploration, vanished species, oceanography, evolution, British history, British colonialism -- and, of course ... pirates ... and you'll find him there, glaring huffily at anyone who'd demean him as a pirate.
A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: The life of William Dampier.......2007-03-08
Extraordinary story of one of the most important explorers and cartographers we've never heard of! Fascinating facts and a well written account of some of the early round-the-world navigation.
Great Reading!.......2007-01-10
A student of history for more than half my life I was astounded that I had never heard of Dampier --its a pity that he has not received his due as an explorer & naturalist. He was well known in his own time and should be as well known in ours. The book is an education and a fun one at that.
Inquisitive, free-spirited open-minded seagoing pioneer.......2006-05-27
William Dampier, an inquisitive, free-spirited open-minded seagoing pioneer was on the cutting edge of global explorations. Recorded in his own words, William Dampier has left us all an inspiring legacy of world history. This book was hard to put down and I was sad to see it end.
Book Description
When Sir Francis Drake returned to England in 1580, many questions concerning his momentous voyage were left unanswered—his journals were impounded and his men were forbidden, on pain of death, to divulge where they had been. Drawing on newly uncovered evidence, geographer and maritime historian Samuel Bawlf masterfully reconstructs Francis DrakeÂ's historic round-the-world expedition, exploring the drama surrounding the voyage and offering intriguing insights into life at sea in the sixteenth century. But it is BawlfÂ's assertion of DrakeÂ's whereabouts in the summer of 1579 that gives the book even greater originality: from an intensive study of maps of the period, Bawlf shows with certainty that Drake sailed all the way to Alaska—much farther than anyone has heretofore imagined—thereby rewriting the history of exploration in North America.
Customer Reviews:
A Work of Scholarship, Detecting and Speculation.......2007-02-23
Samuel Bawlf is more than just an historian writing about an episode in the exploration of North America's northwest coast, he has taken a mystery and turned it into an interesting and entertaining book. Unlike an academic, Bawlf didn't write this book under pressure to 'publish or perish' or to solidify his appointment to a 'Chair'; he wrote this volume out of love for the subject and an interest in finding out the truth. All of which makes this an enjoyable read.
On returning from his historic voyage, Drake had his crew sequestered in Plymouth while he went to London to report to Queen Elizabeth. In addition to over half a million pounds of plunder (much of it belonging to King Philip II of Spain) he also brought her a report of new lands on the North American continent, plus the possibility that he had found the strait that lead from the Pacific to the Northwest Passage (of which Frobisher has already found the Atlantic side). The Northwest Passage would reduce the sailing distance to the western Pacific coast from 20,000 miles to 3,000.
For reasons of state, the six months Drake spent exploring what became the Canadian and American Pacific Northwest, were never acknowledged to have happened. Times spent in other parts of the voyage were extended to 'erase' this time period. Drake's discoveries were never acknowledged and to this day there are few geographical namings that honor him in this area. The 'secret' was kept so well, that few first or even second-hand accounts have survived, and many of those that do, were 'doctored' to protect the secret.
Bawlf does a masterful job in laying out the clues and making his conclusions.
Interesting book on an interesting time.......2006-06-08
Overall I enjoyed this book. I read it right after a biography of Magellan which made it especially poignant. Drake in many cases landed at places Magellan had previously been to and had to deal with the side or after-effects of Magellan's actions. The book is an easy read and gives a good overview of certain background elements such as Elizabeth and her political considerations. The adventures of Drake and his crew as they circled the world are an exciting read and I learned much.
I have three negative comments on the book: 1) It spent too little time on the Spanish Armada, which may not be the prime topic of the book, but is important to the story. 2) The weird organization at the end with Drake dieing and then the concluding chapters showing where Drake probably visited in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe it works, but it seemed disjointed. and 3) Most important- get a map. Yes lots of old maps are reproduced but not real readable in the paperback and nowhere is there a modern map showing Drake's route. Many latitudes and a few longitudes are given, but without a good memory for the latitude/longitude of say San Francisco, I was a bit lost.
I would recommend this book, but only with accompanying maps.
An extraordinary person and explorer!.......2005-09-25
What a remarkable history and well written book. When you read the first pages you realize that Drake was a great human being and an excellent explorer, navigator(the best of all times) and survivor. In the time when spaniards were around beheading everything, Drake treated the prisoners or natives with dignity.
I was interested in the passing of Magellan's strait and the navigation through America heading north, specially Chile. This is an excellent book to enjoy and I recommend it to everyone.
Adventurous, thought provoking.......2005-01-08
Once the reader gets past the European political chess games of the day, this is a bold, daring and energetic portrayal of possibly the most celebrated English navigator to sail the seas. Not only does Bawlf lure the reader into Drake's numerous exploits around the world, but he also augments the attention level as far as Drakes' secret undertakings to locate the infamous Strait of Anian. His voyage to search out the Northwest Passage is a thrilling experience of confronting and battling storms, plundering Spanish treasure fleets, capturing naval captains, day to day survival tactics, etc.
The author does justice in examining the secretiveness and elusiveness of Drake's northern Pacific mission by detailing and meticulously picking through the available literature to vindicate his whereabouts. Possibly the first expedition to traverse the Pacific into its far northern limits, Drake then heads south to explore Vancouver Island and the Columbia River, two centuries before Cook and others.
For the most part, Drake was the gentleman's pirate, always treating his captives with the utmost regard. Many of his short-term prisoners had a high reverence for the man. It goes without saying, he frustrated Spain's King Philip by constantly evading his nautical strategies.
A very enjoyable and insightful read.
Filling in the dark gaps of a voyage kept secret.......2004-12-05
This is an essential book if you want to understand Queen Elizabeth I's maritime policy. England was late on the oceans and Spain and Portugal were all powerful. They had conquered an immense empire all around the world. Philip II put Elizabeth under pressure with the war in Flanders and the Netherlands against the rebellious protestants, with his capture of the Portuguese crown, and with his maritime power and the promised invasion of England (Invincible Armada) to put Mary Stuart on the throne. Elizabeth will use Sir Francis Drake and other English navigators to build her maritime power and defenses, and to haunt the oceans, seize Spanish ships and their cargoes of gold, silver, spices and other goods, and even raid harbours in New Spain, the West Indies and even Spain and Portugal. But this constant pressure prevented Elizabeth from engaging in the colonial conquests her navigators were ready to do. She remained cautious in front of the menace. But she intelligently worked hand in hand, and particularly purse in purse, with the navigators and London merchants to pay for the investment in her fleet and her defenses. She introduced the practice of « joint-stock companies » to develop her maritime power and her first colonies. This will shape the future for many centuries. On the other hand Sir Francis Drake was the first English navigator to go through Magellan's Strait, up Chile, Peru and Mexico, then to discover and explore the west coast of what is today Canada, Washington and Oregon, from the southern limit of Alaska to Whale Cove in Oregon. He never discovered the northern passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic, though he believed he had, but he then crossed the Pacific Ocean and came back to England around the Cape of Good Hope. What was clear with him is that he tried to have good relations with the natives he discovered, when they were not hostile, with the idea in mind that the future colonists will have to work along and establish good commercial relations with them. He envisaged the necessity, later on, to convert them to the good God, the protestant God, but that was not his immediate objective. He also had good relations with ex-slave escapees and even took some under his protection on his ship. He did not envisage slavery. That was to come from the connection between free enterprise plantations in southern colonies and the desire to survive against the Indians in the puritan northern colonies that will lead to slavery, the rejection of Indians, and eventually the War of Independence, the Civil War and the Indian Wars. The book is rich in details and the author's method is good and productive as for acceptable hypotheses about the dark points of Drake's big voyage that was kept mostly secret by decision of Elizabeth.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
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