Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful, a must read
Review: This is simply one of the best new books on exploration, America and the sea. It chronicles the 1838-1843 expedition by Wilkes to explore the South Sea and other unexplored regions of the world. By the 1840s America was late to join the age of exploration. The Chinese, the Portuguese, the Spanish and of course the English under Cook had all preceded us. From 1819-to the 1950s John Barrow(read 'Barrows Boys by Fergus Fleming') organized English expeditions to the arctic and Africa. Beginning in 1838 America set out to survey the pacific for better routes to China and for possible empire building. It would take almost 6 years and 6 ships as the Americans surveyed the world, circumnavigating it for the last time by sail and with wooden ships. An extraordinary voyage by a relatively large exploration group. This excellent account tells the many tales and adventures that these men encountered. You will learn of conflicts with natives in Fiji and the south pacific, the savage Columbia river and event he discovery and mapping of Antarctica. This is simply a great book, well written, easily readable and hard to put down, just the way history should be written. Best of all this book tells the story of an expedition long forgotten in America, yet this great expedition rivaled Lewis and Clark in its length and adventures.During the long voyage ships sank and the crew became restless. The author has uncovered a great story here. You will not be disappointed. For further reading 'Barrow's Boys' by Fergus Fleming is an excellent adventure survival tale of exploration. This book would make a great gift or a quick weekend read. Highly recommended even if your not usually interested in exploration and the sea, this author will make you yearn for traveling.
Rating:
Summary: A Rewarding Read
Review: This tale of America's first great voyage of discovery is an expedition in and of itself. Philbrick intertwines the hopes and fears of a man with those of a young nation, as they both search for a seat at their respective tables by the greatest means of their time, an epic naval exploration. In a tale as big as life itself, Philbrick navigates from points of personal triumph and discovery, through contention and the forming of immortal bonds of brotherhood, to the completion of a task whose depth and breadth have never been fully surveyed.
Sure to be an enjoyable read for anyone interested in history, adventure, or anyone just looking for a good story.
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Summary: You'll Actually Read This Book & LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!
Review: Would you believe it, if someone told you the following. Lt. Charles Wilkes leads six ships with 346 men to log 87,000 miles, survey 280 Pacific islands, collect 4,000 zoological specimens, including 2,000 new species, confirmed some of Darwin's theories, and the discovery of the continent of Antarctica. This is from a country that was a "discovery itself" not too long ago and making discoveries of its own now. Astounding! Also, it took over a decade just to get this voyage launched due to massive fight in Congress over it. Charles Wilkes is atleast the equivalent an American James Cook, if not Columbus. The author makes reference to Herman Melville's novel, Moby Dick, that was based on this expedition. (White Wale = Continent of Antarctica). The author doesn't forget to mention Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) and many other notable authors in regard to this voyage. Anyways, David McCullough recommends this book, too. For more information or thought provoking insights check these links out. http://www.booknotes.org/Program/?ProgramID=1764 http://www.booktv.org/feature/index.asp?segid=4323&schedID=248 Have Fun & Enjoy the Book! -...
Rating:
Summary: Rescued from His Own Obscurity
Review: You have heard of Lewis and Clark, but you probably never heard of the US South Seas Exploring Expedition of 1838. If its leader, US Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, had had his way, the Ex. Ex., as it was known, would still have been sung internationally for the inarguably tremendous contributions it made to geography, biology, and simple adventure. In addition, it started the still-lasting partnership between the US government and the sciences that, say, does the exploring upon Mars. Wilkes, to a large extent, made the expedition successful, and also defeated himself by preventing it from being universally celebrated. _Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, The U. S. Exploring Expedition 1838 - 1842_ (Viking) by Nathaniel Philbrick tells an amazing adventure yarn of real explorers, and real human flaws that by turns endangered and enabled the exploration efforts. There were unprecedented logistical tasks in assembling the expedition, which at its start consisted of six ships and 346 men (including nine scientists). Senior officers had trouble putting the expedition together, and the Navy gave the task to the forty-year-old Lieutenant Wilkes. Philbrick writes, "Wilkes was a great man. But he was also vain, impulsive, and often cruel." He took offense easily, and would not be placated by offenders. He remained aloof from his officers. When things went wrong, he was quick to assume that his men had been incompetent or malevolent. Philbrick concludes that a more self-confident and capable leader probably would not have brought the expedition greater success, although it could have brought greater on-board contentment and post-expedition fame. With his enormous flaws, Wilkes was resilient and resourceful, and the list of accomplishments chalked up by the expedition is long. For instance, they brought back forty tons of biological and anthropological specimens, many of which became the foundation for the collections displayed at the Smithsonian Institution. But upon his return, Wilkes was court-martialed for his many real abuses, and some that were not real, such as a charge that he falsified surveying sightings. While he got off lightly, and became recognized as a naval hero in the Civil War, and even an Admiral, he is not the recognized hero that, say, Scott or Shackleton is. His flaws brought on his obscurity, which Philbrick's engaging volume will at least partially correct. There are literary theorists who say that Wilkes was the model for Ahab, and Melville did indeed know of the expedition and its outcome. A closer literary fit, because of his distrust of his subordinates, would be Captain Queeg of _The Caine Mutiny_. Philbrick, in _In the Heart of the Sea_, previously made exciting the tale of the doomed whaleship _Essex_, and there is plenty of nautical excitement in his story of this expedition as well. There is less of a tale of men against nature here, though, and more of the conflict of commander against officers, and of a man against himself.
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