Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes
This survey history establishes base camp for readers interested in the history of Himalayan climbing expeditions. Its strength lies in the way it puts each undertaking within the context of evolving styles of high-altitude mountaineering. It has the additional attribute of pithily capturing the driven, not to say sometimes nutty, personalities attracted to an extremely perilous sport. Written by professional historians with an alpine avocation, the narrative opens with nineteenth-century identifications of the 8,000-meter titans of the Himalayas that became the mesmerizing goals of most expeditions. Why outfits picked K2, Annapurna, or Kangchenjunga are stories in themselves, in which Isserman and Weaver insightfully engage factors of organization, nationalism, and even aesthetics. The unique obsession with Mount Everest sums up Isserman and Weaver’s divisions of Himalayan mountaineering history: its name reflects the sport’s birth in empire building, its conquest in 1953 symbolized climbing’s most spectacular moment, and its littered slopes testify to climbing’s decline from because-it-is-there ineffability to contemporary commercial enterprise. Including photography of personages and majestic scenery, Isserman and Weaver’s history is well worth any library’s consideration. --Gilbert Taylor