Fatal Passage: The Untold Story of John Rae the Arctic Adventurer Who Discovered the Fate of Franklin - Hardcover

McGoogan, Kenneth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002000547 ISBN 13: 9780002000543

Publisher: HarperFlamingo Canada, 2001

Synopsis

John Rae's accomplishments, surpassing all nineteenth-century Arctic explorers, were worthy of honors and international fame. No explorer even approached Rae's prolific record: 1,776 miles surveyed of uncharted territory; 6,555 miles hiked on snowshoes; and 6,700 miles navigated in small boats. Yet, he was denied fair recognition of his discoveries because he dared to utter the truth about the fate of Sir John Franklin and his crew, Rae's predecessors in the far north. Author Ken McGoogan vividly narrates the astonishing adventures of Rae, who found the last link to the Northwest Passage and uncovered the grisly truth about the cannibalism of Franklin and his crew. A bitter smear campaign by Franklin's supporters would deny Rae his knighthood and bury him in ignominy for over one hundred and fifty years. Ken McGoogan's passion to secure justice for a true North American hero in this revelatory book produces a completely original and compelling portrait that elevates Rae to his rightful place as one of history's greatest explorers.

About this title

Review:

"Rae...was hounded into obscurity, banished from the pantheon of approved Victorian Arctic explorers, and was the only important one not to be knighted."

"Rae emerges from the shadows to take his place among the most intriguing of the 19th-century Arctic explorers. Delightful reading"

"Ken McGoogan's passionate and immaculately researched book...is a sort of Arctic whodunit."

From the Publisher:

Winner of the Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize - the most esteemed award for a biography in Canada - and the Lela Common Award for Canadian History, FATAL PASSAGE was also co-winner of the Grant MacEwan Author's Award and an Adventure Finalist in the Banff Mountain Book Festival 2002.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperFlamingo Canada
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0002000547
• ISBN 13: 9780002000543
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1