5 comments about Ledyard: In Search of the First American Explorer.

1. When reading of early exploration, John Ledyard's legacy is usually summarized in a few sentences, or a paragraph at most. This deserving study by Bill Gifford sheds enormous light not only into who this man was, but also his unsurpassed exploratory efforts.
   
   From the time he dropped out of Dartmouth College and canoed a hundred forty miles down river, the man felt that there was something more to life.
   
   While on Cook's third voyage he experienced the world and craved for more. His thoughts on the Pacific Northwest and its untapped fur trade possibilities revolutionized his ideas even further to walking across America (from west to east) and claiming the land for our new nation.
   When in Paris, he caught the attention of Jefferson who backed him on this endeavor. Ledyard was to go across Siberia, hitch a ride on a Russian ship and eventually land at Nootka Sound, then walk across America. Although apprehended by Russian authorities and his dreams shattered, his zest for fulfillment never ceased. He was then sent off to explore Africa where he ultimately died. It is no wonder he has been referred to as "The Traveller"
   
   As he himself had said, "he traveled under the common flag of humanity" and "served the world at large". Although most times penniless and lacking in clothing, he always managed to find companionship wherever he was in the world.
   
   And just as Mr. Gifford points out, he survived so much but not his temper.
   A great read.



2. Hardly anyone's ever heard of John Ledyard. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy this book about an obscure American explorer. Only a few pages into the book I realized I not only liked the book, but I wish I could have known Ledyard.
   
   A dichotomy of differences--restless, yet lazy; chivalrous, yet not interested in celibacy; idealistic, yet clearly motivated by money--Ledyard's life was predictably unpredictable. His keen intellect and adventurous spirit won the admiration of notables, including Thomas Jefferson.
   
   He frustrated his family. He irritated the head of his college. He broke hearts along the way. And he was always in need of funds. But he never lost his spirit.
   
   Unable to pay for his schooling at Dartmouth, Ledyard carved a canoe out of a fallen tree, packed a lunch, pushed off from shore, and reclined in his new vessel as he let the water's current take him where it may. That it took him to the waterfalls and he barely escaped with his life didn't detour him from other adventures.
   
   Ledyard sailed with Captain Cook on Cook's last journey, tried to reach the west coast of America (from Europe) by heading east through Siberia, and got arrested by Catherine the Great's men who tossed him out of Russia.
   
   Using Ledyard's few remaining letters and journal notes, Gifford adds his own experience in following Ledyard's path. Gifford took a voyage on a replica of the ship Resolution that Ledyard sailed on and shared a bit more detail than I needed, but at least I got an idea of the conditions Ledyard endured.
   
   Ledyard died in a filthy convent room at age 37, most likely the victim of his own self-medication. "He was seized with a pain in his stomach occasioned by bile and undertook to cure himself. Excessive vomiting ensued, in consequence of which he broke a blood vessel," wrote Carlo Rosetti, a Cairo merchant.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: Ledyard may have departed this world too soon, but he left a story worth reading. We're fortunate Bill Gifford brought it to us.



3. The book's title is a bit of an overpromise when it comes to Ledyard's qualities as an explorer. He was a great dreamer, a traveller, and a very 'singular' character (as it is called in the book), but not much of an explorer. The title of the other book about Ledyard "The man who dreamed of walking the world" is more to the point. He tried to be an explorer, but he didn't realise any of his goals.
   Ledyard was at the very best somewhere at the sideline of history. His tales are a nice introduction to 18th century American and European history, for he seems to have mingled with a lot of people and visited the places that mattered in those times. It's nice to view the world of that time from the standpoint of this unique traveller, but don't expect a history of real exploration.



4. Gifford is a master storyteller, and Ledyard is one of the great untold stories in American history--a sort of super-Zelig. I'm hoping that Spielberg reads this book and makes a movie. Meanwhile, I'll settle happily for this page-turner.



5. This was another of those works that I found difficult to put down once I began reading the first page. I have always been aware of John Ledyard, having stumbled across is name in other works, but actually knew little of him or his exploits. This work changed that.
   
   As the author so well points out, not many have heard the name John Ledyard recently. As a bit of a test, I asked three advanced high school history classes if anyone could give me an idea of who he was and what he did. Not one answer did I get. What a pity. The young Ledyard, shortly after dropping out of Dartmouth (have you ever noticed how many great men of note have dropped from Dartmouth and gone ahead and led quite interesting lives?), and began his restless wondering that did not cease until his death at the early age of 37 in a sort of pest hole in Cairo, Egypt, from an apparent over zealous self-medication overdose of one of those medications which were more poison than anything. In his years of wondering that he did, he was on the crew, acting as a Royal Marine, of Captain Cooks' third voyage. He drifted from the United States to Europe and then travel well into Siberia, alone, until he was arrested as a spy by the agents of Catherine the Great. His plans were to take a trading ship, sail to the North American Continent and walk from the west coast to the east, doing what Lewis and Clark did about fifteen years later, but going in the opposite direction and completely alone with no support staff what-so-ever. Did I mention that Ledyard was a bit of a dreamer? He was on his way to explore Africa, again alone, when he met his untimely death. The fact that Ledyard failed to complete most, if not all of his goals, has cast a bit of a shadow over his accomplishments over the years, which is a pity, because for sheer human effort, he did accomplish more than most. He certainly inspired many explorers of the next generation and beyond. Keep in mind that through all of his travel, he was all most completely without funds, being on the edge of complete poverty to the point of starvation many times.
   
   Bill Gifford has done a wonderful job with this one and given us another great popular history which is quite readable and insightful. This cannot have been an easy task as most of the needed documentation concerning Ledyard has long been lost, destroyed or completely changed and altered by his contemporaries and family. Much like Sir. Richard Burton's wife, it seems his family was not all that thrilled about some of the things he addressed in his letters. A pity, but this was rather common practice in that day and time. The author followed the path Ledyard took across Siberia, actually spent times sailing on a reproduction of Cooks Ship and has explored much of the New England country side where Ledyard got his start. His writing style is quite smooth and each page is a wealth of information. In this case I have to admire the author almost as much as Ledyard, scraping together all these facts could not have been an easy job. The author has also given us a very nice picture of what life was like in those times and this is always interesting. This is not a scholarly work, although the research is good, and I don't feel it was intended to be. It is a very detailed and readable popular biography about a little known, but very interesting character out of our history. I felt much richer for having read it. Thank you Mr. Gifford!
   
   I do highly recommend this one.
   
   Don Blankenship

5 comments about Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who RIsked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II.

1. This is an excellent book. I love John Chatterton and Richie Kohler and have watched all their Deep Sea Detectives shows. This book not only was telling the story of the lost U Boat, it delves into the lives and feelings of John and Richie and their friends. I also purchased Hitler's Lost U Boat on DVD at the same time. Good documentary tying in with book, in fact plan on getting both.



2. Lots of history and excitement! Amazing true story. You will not be disappointed with this book.



3. Short on air, I'll be brief. I took this book to Blackbird Caye Resort, Belize, on a SCUBA vacation. Once started, it hooked me in, to the point I only put it down for meals and to prep for my next dive. There are 248 other reviews to inform you of the story content. Let me just add, if you buy this book, read this book, and don't like this book, you have my permission to flame this review and spit in my dive mask.



4. Yes they identified the U-Who. But they so embellished the rest of the story that another author needed to come out and expose it.



5. This is a wonderfully written tale that not only brings you face to face with deep sea diving and exploration and the dangers that go with it but also the perils faced by WW2 submariners.
   
   If you like a good adventure then give Shadow Divers a read, after a few pages you won't be able to put it down until you finally know who U-Who really is.

1 comments about Teachings Around the Sacred Wheel: Finding the Soul of the Dreamtime.

1. From the first book I've read of Lynn V. Andrews works, starting from Woman of Wyrrd and not in order, Medicine Woman, Crystal Woman, Star Woman, Jaguar Woman, and all the others, I find that I could not put any of her books down until I got to absorb every detail and experience. She has brought me enlightenment by awakening my eyes to significant events and similar situations that equate to mine. In this book, this teaches us about our animal spirit, the south, west, east and north wheel where she had described from Star Woman that east represents the rational thinking while the west is the emotional, the south; physical and the north, the spiritual and enlightenment. There is so much to learn from each of her books and this one is no exception. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for the truth within us.

5 comments about Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan.

1. Did you know that James Clavell's "Shogun" was based on the story of an actual Westerner who had gone native in Japan in the early 1600's? I sure didn't.
   
   I thought Clavell was just spinning tales out of whole cloth. No, no; there really was a marooned Englishman there named William Adams, although as we learn from Milton's book, he wasn't quite as mixed up in high politics as was John Blackthorne.
   
   Milton relates Adams's intriguing story in the straightforward style of popular history. It is not written in the form of fiction; Milton here is writing for a large non-scholarly audience. There are no footnotes: Any references or Japanese terms the general reader probably can't handle are explained in the running text.
   
   In addition to an index, the book features several maps and black-and-white woodcut-type illustrations throughout the text.



2. Everyone is familiar with "Shogun"; if not the book, then surely the lengthy TV mini-series. But the real story of the English pilot, William Adams is far more interesting. This is a wonderful book that encapsulate an era of exploration, the first halting attempts of economic empire-building, and the dawn of the Shogunate. And while Adams' personal story is not quite as dramatic as James Clavell's pilot, it is certainly more interesting and entertaining. Especially remarkable was to watch the speed of navigational developement and international operations over a period of a mere thirty years. One forgets at times that Jamestown and Plymouth were established within a few years after Adams' arrival in Japan, and by the time of his death, the Eastern Seaboard was almost entirely settled. A wonderful view of a time less well understood and frequently miscaracterized.



3. In my case, I learned about William Adams watching the PBS Empire Series which I recommend as a complement of this delightful book. What a story, supposedly bound to the East Indies as part of a Dutch Enterprise, Williams Adams is one of the few to reach Japan after a long and difficult voyage. From there comes an exquisite recount of Adams stay in feudal Japan of the 1600 which include a view of their customs and cities and the efforts made by other English Men to establish a trade spot in the Land of the Rising Sun. Is impressive how Williams Adams became a personal advisor of the Shogun Ieyasu and how he became part of this culture that remember him even after 200 years of his death. This book was also an excellent portrait of the Portuguese and Dutch East Indies Company of the time, the expulsion of Jesuits and eradication of Catholicism from Japan, and also provide some interesting information about the natives of Africa's Guinea Ecuatorial and of course, the South of Chile (passing the Magellan Strait).
   
   You can see a letter sent by Adams in 1613 in the British library site. Enjoy!!!



4. I'm moving to Japan in a few months and one of my buddies suggested I read the book before I go. It's very entertaining and gives you the mindset behind what makes the Japanese tick-truly amazing culture.



5. I found this to be a superbly written book, filled with fascinating details and enough excitement to fill a novel. Using quotes from contemporary sources, Milton brings history to life by focusing on the human elements rather than dry chronology. I can't wait to read the rest of Milton's books.

3 comments about Bay of Spirits: A Love Story.

1. Farley Mowat's notion of an idyllic day's sail more often than not involves heavy seas in shallow, rocky waters, accompanied by gale force winds, pelting rain and/or pea-soup fog, in a leaky boat with engine issues.
   
   Therefore armchair adventurers will enjoy this memoir of Mowat's 1960s love affair with "a special woman and a special world" as much as romantic sorts looking for travel among the bygone fishing villages of Newfoundland.
   
   Readers familiar with Mowat, however, will know there must be bitter with the sweet. The Newfie fishing communities, fiercely independent and attached to their way of life like limpets to a rock, were in serious decline by the 1960s. The teeming schools of fish had disappeared under the relentless onslaught of the big fishing operations and the government wanted to resettle the fishermen in factory towns, bringing Newfoundland (which had only joined Canada in 1949) squarely into the 20th century.
   
   The book opens with Mowat's harrowing and exhilarating trip aboard a 200-foot coastal steamer, one of six (now gone), which took freight and passengers to the outposts of Newfoundland, their main contact with the world.
   
   "Newfoundland is of the sea. A mighty granite stopper thrust into the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, its coasts present more than five thousand miles of rocky headlands, bays, capes, and fiords to the sweep of the Atlantic. Everywhere hidden reefs, which are called, with dreadful explicitness, sunkers, wait to rip open the bellies of unwary vessels."
   
   Though Mowat saw little of the coast, due to foul weather and impenetrable fog, he was hooked. He bought a fish-slimed schooner, renamed it Happy Adventure and arranged to have it refitted for cruising.
   
   But, flying in to reclaim his refurbished boat, he makes a dismaying discovery. "My wishes had conflicted with centuries of tradition, which dictated that space allotted to people aboard a boat must be kept to the irreducible minimum so as to leave as much room as possible for fish."
   
   Then, on its maiden voyage the boat sprung a leak, a serious leak. The bilge pump jammed, the fog rolled in, water engulfed the engine and they (Mowat and his friend and longtime publisher, Jack McClelland) luckily ran aground. Next trip out they realized they should have had the compass adjusted while fixing the leak.
   
   It was while working on Happy Adventure that Mowat met Claire Wheeler, a Toronto artist. It was love at first sight, but after several mostly idyllic (including the requisite sprinkle of sudden storms, engine troubles and fog) the pair go their separate ways. Mowat was already married, with two small children, a fact he had previously failed to mention to the reader and which naturally casts a bit of a pall.
   
   Though Mowat makes no excuses, his friends and family - and hers too - seem remarkably enthusiastic about the romance. Either his first marriage was something awful, which does not seem the case, or his memory has reshaped itself. Eventually Mowat tells his wife and goes off with Claire.
   
   They take up residence in Burgeo, Newfoundland, and continue spending summers sailing the coast and meeting its people. While a few communities are insular and suspicious, most are immediately hospitable, inviting the couple into their homes for meals, drink, stories and, when called for, a bed.
   
   Arriving in Francois (Fransway) during a Force 7 gale, he and Claire are taken in by a friend who fed them rabbit soup and roast caribou. Mowat then "learned that it would be necessary for Les to take us to visit every single one of the family connections to show he and Carol weren't trying to hoard us. Visitors had to be shared, just like everything else in an outpost."
   
   The anecdotes and tall tales Mowat collects form an endlessly fascinating portrait of people's work lives, bravery, quirks, superstitions, and customs. These are seamlessly complemented by historical research and interviews, documenting the long and inexorable decline of a proud, hardscrabble way of life. There is regret and sadness, but no self-pity among the Newfies.
   
   Mowat has written more than 40 books, mostly about the people, places, creatures and history of a rapidly disappearing natural world. While this book meanders more than some, his customary passion, humor and eloquence draw the reader into his world.
   
   But it's a world in which he remains an outsider. He is reminded of this from time to time, but the senseless killing of a lone whale (documented in "A Whale for the Killing") stranded in a nearby lake, ends the book and the Mowats' happy sojourn in Burgeo. Though many disapproved of the louts who slaughtered the whale for sport, more disapproved of Mowats' actions in bringing the press down upon them.
   
   A postscript lists other Mowat Newfoundland books, including "This Rock Within the Sea" "Sea of Slaughter," and "The Farfarers." "The Boat Who Wouldn't Float" describes his restoration of the Happy Adventure.



2. This is the tale of two love stories -- one covered extensively, one almost glossed over by books' end.
   
   Farley Mowat came to Newfoundland in the early 1960s and fell in love, both with the land and its people, and with a young artist named Claire Wheeler. It's the former that Mowat dwells upon most in this book, and as a reader I left frustrated because we learn so comparatively little about Claire and about their life together. It takes 1/3 of the book for Mowat to reveal that he was married when he met Claire, and that he the tug of his family -- including two sons -- delayed his eventual divorce. His former family is dismissed in a paragraph.
   
   Having faced the music, Mowat settles down with Claire aboard his famously unseaworthy boat, "Happy Adventure", the star the classic "The Boat Who Wouldn't Float." Readers of "The Boat" will be startled by anecdotes, names and dates changing from one book to another. It gives creedence to the charge leveled against Mowat that he never lets the facts get in the way of a good story.
   
   Ultimately this lovely book covers a period of but seven years, and ends just after Mowat's futile attempt to stop the people of his adopted home of Burgeo from killing a whale that has become trapped in a tidal pond. The whale died, the locals were savaged by the press, and the Mowats decided it was time to leave Burgeo and venture in Happy Adventure to Expo 67 (a voyage that nearly ended many times, if "The Boat" is to be believed.)
   
   This is a wonderful book but I wanted more -- what happened to Happy Adventure? What happened to Mowat's sons? Where did they settle after the Expo trip? Much has happened between 1967 and now! -- I hope to hear more about the Mowat's voyages though these most interesting times.



3. Farley Mowat writes a moving story about how he met his wife Claire by accident while trying to escape a vicious dog, and, in doing so, also "kills two birds with one stone" by portraying the colorful, insular people of Newfoundland in the 1950's as well as the inhabitants of the almost unheard of French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic off the coast of St. John, NF. I would highly recommend this book to those who enjoy learning about new places and people, and at the same time would want to curl up with a well-written love story.

3 comments about By His Own Hand?: The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis.

1. BY HIS OWN HAND? THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF MERIWETHER LEWIS surveys the evidence in the strange death of explorer Lewis, who was found dead from two gunshot wounds while staying at an inn in Tennessee. Who fired these shots may never be fully known, but BY HIS OWN HAND takes a healthy stab at a case with no eyewitnesses. Contributors here are all historians of the West and conduct investigations making the case for different results, with editor Guice dissecting the suicide argument and outlining inconsistencies in the theory.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. You talk about true crime, this puts them all to shame. Or was it a crime? For almost two centuries scholars, criminologists, medical professionals and a host of other sleuths have tried to determine what caused the death of Meriwether Lewis of the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition. Was it a suicide, a homicide, or an accident? The shooting on October 11, 1809, in an Inn along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee has created much controversy, speculation, legends, and myths and yet the mystery has not been solved. Or has it? This book is the first to analyze the evidence and, within the full historical context, consider the murder-versus-suicide debate. Four historians outline the facts and present the evidentiary problems; make a case for suicide...and murder; assess the strengths and weaknesses of both arguments; and present a document section from which the reader can examine the available key evidence. What ultimately caused the death of Meriwether Lewis? YOU decide.



3. By His Own Hand? is a valuable addition to the Lewis and Clark literature. The centerpieces of this slim volume are two extended essays, one by James Holmberg of the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, the other by John D.W. Guice, professor of history emeritus at the University of Southern Mississippi.
   
   In "The Case for Suicide," Jim Holmberg does an excellent job of setting out the evidence that Meriwether Lewis committed suicide in the early morning hours of October 11, 1809. The strength of Holmberg's essay is the overwhelming support of documentary evidence that the people closest to Lewis, including William Clark and Thomas Jefferson, believed he was in a suicidal frame of mind. Holmberg also points out that the supposed tradition of murder did not begin until the 1840s, many decades after Lewis died, when the residents of the area formed Lewis County and began to embrace the legacy of their most famous, if deceased, resident. William Clark's son, Meriwether Lewis Clark, may have also played a role in attempting to rescue his namesake from the stigma of suicide.
   
   By contrast, those who believe Lewis was murdered have never been able to muster much evidence against any of the many suspects and rely heavily on the dubious supposition that Lewis simply wasn't the type to commit suicide. There are big holes in all the murder theories. Fictional accounts such as Frances Hunter's "To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis and Clark" can fill in such gaps, but no documentary evidence exists that can do so in real life.
   
   Yet Guice's essay, "Why Not Murder?" is more valuable than the confused tales of murder in the night might suggest. Guice points out that, starting with Thomas Jefferson, there has been a long history of retrofitting Lewis's life and actions to point to a suicidal nature. Scholars often point to Lewis's 31st birthday journal entry. Written literally as the Expedition was poised to become the first Americans to cross the Continental Divide, Lewis seems to lament the fact that he's never accomplished a doggone thing in his life. But is this really evidence that Lewis was self-destructive or a raging depressive? And how about the missing journals, or Lewis's failures in politics after the Expedition? Might there be explanations other than mental illness?
   
   Guice does a good job of showing that when interpreted through the assumption of suicide, Lewis's foibles seem much more ominous than they would otherwise. He also points out that the suicide tradition is based largely on hearsay, and calls for an exhumation of Lewis's body to search for forensic evidence that might settle the question once and for all. He notes that over 200 Lewis relatives signed a petition asking the National Park Service for permission to examine the remains, but the NPS denied the request.
   
   I also appreciated Guice's defense of Vardis Fisher, whose Suicide or Murder? (1962) doesn't always get the respect it deserves. Fisher did yeoman's work in compiling the stories about Lewis's death, and his work on the subject remains the most complete on the subject.
   
   There are some good primary source documents included in By His Own Hand?, and an excellent round-up of the arguments by Jay Buckley of Brigham Young University. This anthology is highly readable and well-edited and will be enjoyed with anyone with an interest in Lewis's sad fate.

5 comments about A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee.

1. Penned during the ORIGINAL Crockett "craze" of the 1830's, this is the Tennessean's own story in his "own" words. (Much of this book was heavy edited and, some would say, ghost written by one of Crockett's supporters.) Still, it's worth adding to a "Crockett" Library. Parts of the book have an almost "Dickens" like feel, especially the stories about the poverty and hardship suffered by the young David. Sprinkled through-out this book are hunting stories, scrapes with bears and panthers, a little romance, skirmishes with hostiles, frontier wit and humor. An annoying part of the narrative are the corny pseudo backwoods expressions, like "burst my boilers" and "knocked his trotters out from under him". Evidently the author(s) tired of this excessive hoakum too because it abruptly stops. (Thank You!) Much has been written about the legendary "Davy" but this brings the real man into more perspective. Even if you have little interest in Crockett lore, the NARRATIVE is still worth reading for it's glimpse into early 19th Century America.



2. David Crockett found himself to have become mythologized in his own lifetime. Every indication is that he arrived at this place accidentally, but that once he recognized his own pop-culture status he took advantage of it and nurtured it at every turn. His Narrative, therefore, must be read with a certain amount of skepticism nevertheless it is still valuable as an historical record.
   
   The narrative is a journey from start to finish; true Homeric stuff. He describes his journey into adulthood in pre-Mark Twain style, then his journey as an adventurer in the military, his journey across the state of Tennessee with his family, and finally his journey into politics. There may be many embellishments within his narrative, but considering the period in which it was written (while he contemplated a much larger political career) the topics he chose to describe actually seem prosaic and understated, as if he were deliberately trying to avoid bragging about himself. In this light, perhaps the Narrative is more accurate than is generally assumed. The Narrative may have been ghost-written by someone else, but there is enough Crockett in it to give it legitimacy. His jabs at Andrew Jackson are quaintly hilarious, but they are also true. In this pre-Alamo period of his life, his willingness to take a stand against Jackson might be the bravest thing he ever did.
   
   Lastly, the language itself is fascinating. The Narrative may be laced with over-the-top phrases such as, "knocked his trotters out from under him", but at the same time he writes, "if a fellow is born to be hung, he will never be drowned..." This is classic southern wisdom, words I have heard with my own ears in the mountains of eastern Tennessee, so Crockett's Narrative is either very authentic or was itself the basis for an evolving southern culture. In this way, the Narrative should be considered classic American literature.



3. 
   Davy Crockett's Narrative first appeared early in 1834 at the height of his political career. During the 1820s he had won a couple of terms in the Tennessee state legislature, and in 1827 he won a seat in Congress representing the western half of the state. He was a foe of Andrew Jackson and a political maverick; when he advocated for Indian rights he won the enmity of many in Congress and his constituents, and was voted from office in 1831. He licked his wounds and patched up differences, and was re-elected in 1833. To bolster his image, which was already taking on legendary aspects, this Narrative was written with his friend Thomas Chilton. Told in bold, humorous, boastful strokes, it is nonetheless a campaign biography and ends with sharp attacks on Jackson.
   
   The way the Narrative is set up here is very useful for the reader. It appears in facsimile form, with wide margins set around it, in which Shackford explains, corrects, and separates fact from fiction in Crockett's assertions. It's almost like watching a movie on DVD along with critical commentary. Interestingly, many errors that appear in the Narrative were intentional and are often self-deprecating, making Crockett more unsophisticated and lowbrow than he really was in order to win votes with the farmers and backwoodsmen of western Tennessee. Most of the historical references he makes are quite accurate. As a campaign biography to help him win re-election in 1835, however, it was a failure, as he lost to a Jacksonian. After that, he set his eyes on Texas.
   
   The format chosen here is what makes this book a success. The many annotations make this edition of the Narrative the most informative and "honest" in print. Highly recommended.



4. Confusion about authorhip has followed "A Narrative" more than 170 years. It helps to understand that Thos. Chilton, Representative from Kentucky, shared living quarters with Crockett at Mary Ball's Rooming House. They were actual bedfellows, which was the custom of the times; Thos. Chilton was father, eventually, to 15 children. Thomas Chilton had a university education and wrote with recognized eloquence. He crafted "A Narrative" from Crockett's notes and dictation, using carefully the homespun dialogue of his friend.
   
   Thos. Chilton, a skilled lawyer, was not fool enough to do all this this work for free. Davy Crockett arranged for his publisher to pay fifty percent of the book's royalties to Thomas Chilton, who agreed to have no mention of his name in the book. What remains rather obscure is the disposition of royalites after Crockett's death. Thomas Chilton died in 1854.
   
   The role played by Thomas Chilton in "A Narrative" was lost to history for nearly a hundred years, except inside the Chilton Family.
   -- Edward M. Chilton



5. David Crockett was best known for his adventures in the wilderness and fighting at the Alamo. He also served as a Congressman where he was known as an honest and conscientious man.
   
   I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I found it honest, refreshing, stimulating and interesting. It is David Crockett's own words echoing through time. The sentences are long and constructed different than today and take a little time to absorb. This adds to the richness of the writing.
   
   A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett provides a peek into the world of this fine human being who was incredibly brave, a fine story teller, a gentleman and true adventurer. David Crockett was a strong critical thinker who followed his own beliefs and values. He couldn't be bribed to support any measure he thought was wrong. His celebrated motto was:
   "Be sure that you are right, and then go ahead."
   
   The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

5 comments about Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty/ Wilderness Journals Combination Edition.

1. It may seem strange to describe something that is autobiographical as folklore or mythology. But to read Ruess' story is to read something so fantastic it is beyond belief. In the end, the story truly becomes myth as Everett meets his as yet unknown end.
   
   I lived in Utah for 5 years and have hiked many of the canyons and deserts of Ruess' journals. Even in a more modern age I am still amazed at his adventurous spirit. The four corners region remains a vast and remote place much of which is inaccessible by 4 wheel-drive (thank goodness). To imagine a teenager venturing into such country at a time when it was still the domain of Native Americans is remarkable.
   
   Reviewers who are critical of Ruess' journals, not only fail to recognize the remarkable nature of his story, but the beauty with which it is told. It is ironic then that Ruess often criticizes his paintings, never perhaps realizing his true talent is writing.
   
   The material in these journals would make excellent material for a movie. I know one was made independently but Robert Redford (without his voice for narration) would truly bring these journals to life. What more cinematic ending than his leaving all earthly possessions behind and disappearing forever (at age 21) into the ether of dust and desert air. I wish someone would make a film of his story so it would finally be recognized as one of the great American stories.
   
   Among journals of the southwest, this book is worthy of 5 stars. Among all literature it is probably worthy of 3.5 to 4.
   
   Readers who enjoy this might also enjoy the already suggested Into the Wild, Desert Solitaire, Sandstone Sunsets, or even Mormon Country by Wallace Stegner.



2. This is, I believe the best book about the mysterious young artist Everett Ruess. It consists mainly of his letters to his family and friends--well-written, if slightly flowery letters--and is much better than the less-polished collection of his wilderness journals.
   Everett Ruess was a twenty-year-old photographer, artist, and writer, who rambled the desert with a manic passion for nature, beauty, and solitude. He canvassed the American Southwest, including the canyons and slickrock where Lake Powell is today, on burros, on horses, and on foot; he took the trails everyone thought were too dangerous, sought out the most desolate, forbidding areas, and chased experience with a joyful craving--sought it without already having it. He just went.
   Where he went last though is anyone's guess. In 1934 he carved "NEMO," and the year, at two different spots in the sandstone around Davis Gulch (in southern Utah, just north of present day Lake Powell), tied up his pack animals--or someone did--and disappeared. No verifiable trace of him has ever been found, and though most theories involve his death, he could still be alive somewhere. He'd be over ninety years old now. Leaving his burros tied up to possibly starve was just the right touch to make people think he'd died--it might be what I'd do if I couldn't take the pressures of society anymore--and there is ample evidence throughout his journals that he never treated animals very well anyway: he killed every snake he saw, beat his dog so hard it ran away, and overworked his mules until one died of exhaustion.
   Besides, why would he carve "NEMO" twice--as in Captain Nemo, the character in Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," a book he loved, a character who abandons society to live under the ocean--if he wasn't planning on abandoning society? It seems like an amazing coincidence that he would carve that, and then just get murdered by cattle rustlers.
   Claims have been made that his bones were found in a crevice in Davis Gulch in the 1970s and given to a park maintenance worker and then lost. A notoriously racist Indian has claimed he murdered Everett Ruess in present day Reflection Canyon, buried him there, and then tied Everett's donkeys up in Davis Gulch. People have claimed that he got married and moved to a reservation, that he became a polygamist (he always claimed to be a "pantheistic hedonist"), and that he drowned.
   A local of Escalante, Utah, told me he met Everett back in 1934: Everett was grinning, beaming, walking between two Navajo men, and the men were singing. That same man told me he thinks Everett was just a dumb kid who got himself killed by being foolish, and that he explored less than people say he did.
   That may be, but everything about Everett remains a mystery, and his character remains intriguing.
   Everett came out West, and at least part of him stayed here, and his legend grows more and more every day. He came out west, and he's still missing. Like the Anasazi. Like a thousand rumored treasures. Like 180 miles of the Colorado through Glen Canyon.
   Things and people just vanish out here.
   Fans of this book might also like "Sandstone Sunsets: In Search of Everett Ruess," which contains several interesting theories on Everett's death. Scott Thybony's "Burntwater" contains a good chapter on him, as does Jon Krakauer's "Into the Wild."



3. This book is very interesting, but each page falls out as I turn to the next. I like to keep my books and often reread them again and again. I don't think it will be possible with this edition.



4. This is a great book, if you want to read about Everett and his travels around the Southwest and the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell area.



5. Unlike most of the other reviewers I found Everett to be rather smug and having an unpleasant sense of entitlement. I also didn't find him to be particularly talented as a writer or artist. It would have been interesting, had he lived, to see if he matured into greater skill, and perhaps even learned to treat animals appropriately.
   
   I did like the book for it's excellent sense of the Canyon Country during that time. There's no question of Everett's bravery of wandering this harsh land. Edward Abbey is the far, far superior writer, but he's writing from a later period. I haven't found much written during this period and as such really enjoyed this book.

No comments about Explorer: The Life of Richard E. Byrd.

5 comments about The Grizzly Maze: Timothy Treadwell's Fatal Obsession with Alaskan Bears.

1. I loved the book, it was a great compliment to Living Among Grizzlies. The author gave a factual yet compassionate account of the fatal obsession with bears which drove Timothy Treadwell to his tragic, horrific death. He was a floundering man who found his true calling in the wilds of Alaska and his beloved bears, forgetting that he was dealing with wild beasts who are capable of devouring their own offspring for no reason whatsoever. His biggest mistake was assuming, because they tolerated his presence season after season, that he had made an emotional connection with them and they viewed him as one of their own when nothing was further from the truth. I think he saw himself as another Diane Fossey who really made an emotional connection with the gorillas but unfortunately that wasn't the case at all with him. The book explores the many facets of his personality as well as his incredible courage because no matter what we think about him or his impossible dream, he endured hardship after hardship, penury after penury in that relentless pursuit knowing that he would ultimately pay with his life. It's hard to read this book without feeling sorry for him. I think he was an extraordinary man who could have made a bigger contribution by staying alive.



2. Nick Jans' "The Grizzly Maze" is a good read to complement seeing the Werner Herzog movie, "Grizzly Man." The book clears up some of the murkiness left behind the movie. Tim Treadwell is a conflicted soul, whose sturm and drang both helps and hurts grizzly bears. Turning to the study of coastal brown bears (a sub-type of grizzly) in the Alaskan summers for many years in Katmai National Park, probably kept Treadwell from self-destructing on alcohol, drugs or the sheer arrogance of his ego. The man learned a lot about bear behavior over those 13 summers. However, his very presence, his defiance toward Park authorities and his smug disregard for the proper practices in bear country resulted in his own death, the death of his girlfriend and the death of two bears. Wasn't that the reason he claimed himself to be a friend and guardian of grizzly bears? Treadwell greatly exaggerates the poaching issue and completely disregards Park policies designed to minimize bear-human conflict. In the most self-righteous and self-serving way, he ends up habituating bears to humans, doing the very thing he cautions others not to do. Jans brings this front-and-center in his tale. The only reason this book gets four stars instead of five is that in the final chapters, Jans wanders off-course and the focus gets a bit lost. Still, a great read for clearing up unanswered questions in the movie.



3. Because of the success of Werner Herzog's movie, "Grizzly Man," the world thinks that it knows Timothy Treadwell. While Herzog treats Treadwell as an emotionally and socially defective person, Jans is much more sympathetic. He provides a respectful, richer, and more rounded portrait of Treadwell than does "Grizzly Man."
   
   As a result, Jans is probably insufficiently critical of Treadwell. Treadwell was "protecting" a healthy grizzly population in a national park, indulged by the National Park Service despite flaunting its rules, and engaging in unsafe practices that ended in the death of two people and two grizzlies. An overall assessment of the man must take this into account.
   
   After telling Treadwell's story, the second half of this book turns to Jans' musings on humans' relations with bears, and wildlife more generally. This was less successful than the first half of the book. Even so, Jans is a talented writer and the book moves along very nicely.



4. I learned alot about bears.I appreciate his love for the bears,but do not think he went about it correctly.



5. I just finished reading this book and was riveted throughout. Unlike several other reviewers who found the last third of the book superfluous, I found it highly informative and thought it fit in beautifully with the rest of the story. I appreciated Nick Jans' account of his personal journey with bears and the insights he gained into both his own soul and the behavior of grizzlies/brown bears. I think it is exactly what qualifies him to surmise what motivated Timothy Treadwell to choose the lifestyle he chose. Jans remained objective yet weighed the pros and cons of Timothy's behavior with sensitivity and good sense. He leaves it up to the reader to form his or her own opinions. I saw the documentary "Grizzly Man" when it was in theaters - three times. I was fascinated by Tim's story and thought Wernor Herzog did a fine job of presenting it. This book and the movie complement each other very well.
   Jans writes beautifully; I was pleasantly surprised to find a touch of the poet in his prose.