1 comments about Ely Echoes: The Portages Grow Longer (Minnesota).

1. Great book for someone who visits this area. Gives us outsiders a peek into what life was like for the "pioneers" of canoe country.

5 comments about Wilderness Journey: The Life of William Clark.

1. William Clark is best known as the American explorer who joined Meriwether Lewis in heading an overland expedition to the Pacific: but as William Foley demonstrates in Wilderness Journey: The Life Of William Clark, how William Clark has many more claims to fame than his explorations with Meriwether Lewis. Studies have appeared on the two, but this is the first comprehensive biography of Clark's entire life, revealing his service as a soldier, Indian diplomat, and his involvement in US politics and policy-making in the West. College-level audiences will find Wilderness Journey a fascinating biography of a multi-faceted man.



2. It's about time someone wrote a modern full biography of William Clark (1770-1838). The second-in-command of the legendary Lewis and Clark Expedition deserves a much fuller discussion than heretofore available. Born in Virginia in 1770, Clark was closely tied to frontier military and Indian affairs throughout his life. He served with Gen. Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, and between 1803 and 1806 he and Meriwether Lewis led the military expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase to the Pacific Ocean. In 1813 Clark became Missouri Territorial governor, working during the War of 1812 to secure the frontier from British-incited Indian attacks. When Missouri was admitted to the Union in 1822, Clark was appointed by Congress superintendent of Indian affairs, serving until his death in 1838. He was fair, humane, and honest in his dealing with the western tribes.
   
   This book is an exceptionally well researched and written life of Clark, whose career, at least in its later stages, outstripped that of Meriwether Lewis. It is must reading for anyone interested in the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the settlement of the trans-Mississippi West. It replaces as the central work on the subject the biography written by Jerome O. Steffen, "William Clark: Jeffersonian Man on the Frontier" (University of Oklahoma Press, 1977).



3. The author skillfully blends history and biography to provide an absorbing look at American frontier during the early to mid 19th century,
   as well as a fresh narrative of the Lewis and Clark explorations. Foley
   renders Clark in a sympathetic light, even when accounting for his often
   harsh treatment of African-Americans and Native Americans. A well-researched and well-written book.



4. As a reader of "Undaunted Courage", the Steven Ambrose historical biography of Meriwether Lewis and his patron, Thomas Jefferson, I felt like I received only part of the picture of the expedition that opened the Louisiana Purchase to U.S. interests. This book completes the picture. Clark was the steady, get-the-job-done, go-to guy, who complemented the mercurial Lewis. Where Lewis made only occasional journal entries, Clark is the principal source of our non-botanical/zoological information because he reliably performed the journaling function. The only criticism I would have of the book is the repeated drubbing of Clark as a slave holder and his perceived mistreatment of York. It seems that Foley feels he has to apologize for Clark, who lived in a different age with a very different view of slavery. Once would have been enough.



5. I, of course, have already studied the epic journey -
   it seems to be historicaly well researched and complete -
   and deals with the issue of Lewis' illness with tact and compassion.
   i bought this for my grandchildren - who are of the Clark family -
   the book is of excellant print and binding quality -
   It is rich in well presented, informative illustrations -

No comments about Henson at the North Pole (Dover Books on Travel, Adventure).

No comments about Saved: The Extraordinary Tale of Survival and Rescue in the Southern Ocean.

No comments about Bernardino De Sahagun: First Anthropologist.

No comments about Living Legends of Big Game Fishing.

5 comments about Magnificent Failure: Free Fall from the Edge of Space.

1. As the manager of the Lakewood Parachuting Center in the 1960's I met and jumped with Nick from his first jump on. Craig Ryan understood what we were doing back then and wrote a wonderful story about what really happened.



2. I am Vern Piantanida, Nick Piantanida's brother. I already submitted a review for the book. I did this using my son-in-law's system so it picked up my review as being from him - James Keenan. Of course, this caused confusion as people think James is another brother to Nick. Nick had only one sibling - me. Sorry for the confusion.



3. On the morning of February 2, 1966, a gigantic weather balloon rose from the South Dakota prairie and soared straight into the Stratosphere. In the small aluminum gondola beneath the massive helium filled envelope, parachutist Nick Piantanida prepared to set a world's record. At 120,000 feet, he would jump out of the gondola, free fall for tens of thousands of feet - reaching a speed perhaps greater than Mach 1.0 in the process - and then glide to safety beneath a modified Para-Commander.

   It wasn't meant to be. When he reached jump altitude, a horrified Piantanida discovered the quick-release on his oxygen hose had hopelessly jammed. He had no choice but to cut the gondola loose, and fall back to earth with the aid of its cargo parachute. Three months later he would make another attempt. Unfortunately for this brave and dauntless American, that jump would end in disaster, and cost him his life.

   Author Craig Ryan, whose fascinating chronicle of military balloon flights and parachute tests The Pre-Astronauts briefly described Piantanida's Project Strato-Jump, revisits the topic in great detail in Magnificent Failure. While Strato-Jump has sometimes been denigrated as a haphazard effort undertaken by an amateur, Ryan makes clear that characterization is far from the truth. Piantanida was an extremely experienced parachutist, and a cadre of professionals from the civilian, contractor, and military world supported his effort. In reality, Strato-Jump was one of the boldest civilian efforts of its era, and it might well have succeeded had not the disconnect fitting jammed.

   Where Piantanida's final, fatal flight is concerned, Ryan presents a great deal of new information and develops a credible scenario concerning what went awry. For years, this topic has been the subject of speculation and rumor. It is now clear that Piantanida was doomed from the moment he took off.

   Yet while it does chronicle a debacle, Magnificent Failure is not merely a somber record of a botched endeavor. Rather, it is an entertaining and readable portrait of a larger-than-life figure who dreamed of glory and worked terrifically hard and against all odds to obtain it. Thanks to Ryan's research effort, technical insight, and journalism skills, the book is remarkably insightful, full of detail and pulse-pounding drama. In an era when civilian teams are once again striving to reach not just the upper atmosphere but space itself -- the X-Prize contenders come to mind -- Magnificent Failure delivers a message of inspiration, while at the same time reminding us that glory sometimes eludes even the bravest of men.




4. As a collector of books written by or about former astronauts as well as balloonist I can honestly say that this is one of the finest written accounts I have read. This book truly captures both the technical side of this endeavor and the man behind the dream.
   
   As a 3rd grade student of St. Bernard's Grade School in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1965 I distinctly recall being on the school playground and watching a small dot in the sky that we knew was a ballon. I recall at that time knowing the difference between gas and hot air ballons. The buzz on the playground was that someone was going to parachute from the balloon. I am not sure how I knew that but I was captivated by this event as I have been since by aeronautical events of all kinds.
   
   Thanks Craig Ryan.....this is a very cool book!
   
   EZ



5. I picked this book up at a local Dollar Tree for, what else, one dollar. I'm not completely sure on how that reflects on the book itself. No matter where I purchased it, the story of Nick Piantanida and the Strato-Jump project is just incredible. I am not a baloonist, parachutist, or anything even remotely related, but Nick's story is inspiring no matter who you are. This is one of the best books I have read in the past year. No matter where you find this book, pick it up! Also, the photographs are great! Highly recommended.

No comments about Shackleton & Antarctic Expl.

No comments about Die Trying: One Man's Quest to Conquer the Seven Summits.

No comments about The Last Conquistador: Mansio Serra De Leguizamon and the Conquest of the Incas.