Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer - Softcover

Loomis, C.C.

3.95

125 ratings by Goodreads

9780803279377: Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080327937X ISBN 13: 9780803279377

Publisher: Bison Books, 1991

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A Cincinnati businessman named Charles Francis Hall set out for the Arctic in 1860 to search for members of Sir John Franklin's expedition, missing for 15 years. An amateur explorer without scientific training, Hall was extraordinary in his determination, independence and energy. Drawing on surviving letters and journals, this study reconstructs Hall's forays into the Arctic. His last trip, in 1871, brought him closer to the Pole than any other Westerner had ever been, and ended with his death under mysterious circumstances. 97 years later, the author headed an expedition to Hall's grave in Greenland. The results of the autopsy on his frozen remains suggested that a naval board of inquiry long ago had nervously side-stepped rumours of Hall's murder.

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Review:

"We're in the hands of a satisfying writer. . . . Loomis is an explorer himself, but he's also a lively, ironic social historian with a nice eye for detail. . . . He has told this strange story admirably well."-New York Times. "Spellbinding."-- "Library Journal," "Mystery as well as adventure in the Far North. [Loomis] has made a good book of the mix."-- "Atlantic," "A first-rate detective story. . . . Loomis knows the Arctic intimately and is sensitive to problems that confront strangers in this strange land."-- "New York Times Book Review," "We''re in the hands of a satisfying writer. . . . Loomis is an explorer himself, but he''s also a lively, ironic social historian with a nice eye for detail. . . . He has told this strange story admirably well."-- "New York Times,"

About the Author:

Chauncey Loomis was born in New York in 1930 and studied at Phillips Exeter Academy and Princeton (A.B., Ph.D.) and Columbia universities (M.A.). He came to exploration through his interest in photography and has been on three expeditions to the Peruvian Andes and five to the Arctic. He recently retired after teaching English at Dartmouth College for thirty-six years. He lives in Massachusetts. Jon Krakauer is the author of Into Thin Air, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and Into the Wild. His work has appeared in many magazines, including Outside, Smithsonian, and National Geographic. He chose the books in the Modern Library Exploration series for their literary merit and historical significance and because he found them such a pleasure to read.

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