Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes

Description

All has been said about the problem with maps, and I concur. I also agree with the reviewer from Spain about the anglo saxon and anglophile bias of the book. I would add that the authors are unfair and judgmental when talking about climbers of recent years. The old amateur (noble, romantic, selfless and idealistic) vs pro mountaineer (self centered, materialistic and unfeeling) comparison ignores the fact that the "gentlemen" of the old days came from the privileged classes and did not have to worry about how to make a living AND pay for expeditions. I particularly disliked the portraying of John Roskelley obviously colored by Andy Harvard and Peter Lev's opinions (see acknowledgments and bibliographies). Anyone who read accounts of the 1976 Nanda Devi expedition knows that Harvard and Lev were at odds with Roskelley almost throughout the trip. Otherwise a fascinating, gripping history of Himalayan climbing, told in the context of the times of each expedition, with portrait of mountaineers not only as athletes but as men and women with the qualities and flaws of the era of which they were the products.