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Summary: I felt I was right there with them!
Review: (...) IT WAS WONDERFUL!!! This was one of the best books I have ever read. I didn't want it to end. I have never read a book twice, but one day I will read this one again. I have recommended this book to many, many people. I hope Dolnick will write another book on explorers and discovers. Thank you Dolnick for my armchair journey with these brave men.
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Summary: Now It's Known , almost .
Review: (...) There was a cast of ten which made up the Colorado River Exploring Expedition . Led by John Wesley Powell. None of them had ‘white water' experience. Many were barely 20 and 7 were Union Army veterans. There was no record of persons having gone down the thousand miles of this journey so they were floating blind. It lasted 111 days.They were to use wooden boats made in Chicago Illinois. They would put in at Green River Station, Wyoming at the point where the recently completed transcontinental railroad had been celebrated. It was chosen because the [4] boats could easily be delivered by rail freight to Green River Station from Chicago. (...) This is a history and Edward Dolnick has done his best to use the notes and writings of Powell, Summer, Bradley and other of the expedition. Powell's book was written some years later but the crew wrote more personal and soon after the trip. They reveal some pain and misery that Powell in his enthusiasm for the mission - geology exploration of the earth including flora and fawna - avoids. Dolnick has also told the tales of others who ventured on the Colorado River and who were reported in the press of that day. But, none had done what this mission did; namely go the distance without any real briefing and not any knowledge of these tales. On the river they were out of touch with all - alone. A person of ill repute reported after the first month that the party had been destroyed by the river and only he had survived. He was widely published in the press including his tale of how he got on the expedition. But, like story tellers he had dates wrong and Emma Powell, John Wesley's young wife read the stuff and informed the press that he couldn't be believed. They did more research and began retracting the articles. The good effect of this was that the Expedition got more press than they had had before they left. Of course the voyagers did not learn of this until many months later. Dolnick has a couple of chapters about Powell's military service as an artillery officer in the Grants army at Shiloh. Here Powell lost an arm which comes in for some interesting comments during the voyage down the rivers. Emma is a heroic and fascinating wife of great personal support to Powell. One of the boats is named after her; Emma Dean. Dolnick seeks to tell it as it went along, not to sum things in advance. So there is an air of adventure - what will happen next?
Sumner was of great value to Powell and all the men seem to have followed the decisions - there Army training is reference as an aid in this respect. But, some of the trappers didn't cotton to the order giving; still they did their part. There is detail about the boats and equipment - built in Chicago - the best for the lakes - but not properly designed for the river. But sturdy. Still they lose one to the rapid while still in the three hundred mile stretch of the Green River. And, 1/3rd of the food and other supplies went down with that crash. Powell is the focal person. He had the crazy idea and he had the energy to make it happen with little money and little backing and many persons of repute advising against the venture. It is a crazy thing to do given the level of experience and knowledge that was the foundation of this expedition effort.
BUT - the beauty and grandeur does grab your imagination and it did theirs too.
They often stopped to look, if they could stop, or linger if camped at a place of special interest to Powell. They took side walking trips. And the number of times they climbed to get a better view of the prospects of the river ahead were legion. YOU are presented with their wonderment and deep appreciation for the trip - that seems to have been its saving grace. For they were called upon to live with privation and the rain. I couldn't believe the number of times they had severe rain storms especially in Arizona. (...) The author has placed a little map of the segment of the river they were about to enter at the beginning of each chapter. It helps keep you oriented. There is also a photo section which provides enrichment of the principals and some locations. Now, the story itself builds to a natural climax that will begin to grab you midway through the venture. You will sense the feeling of eternal repetition of the river and its mad behavior. It becomes a kind of tormenter. When will they be through with the trip? The men become restive and short tempered. They do not all like each other all the time by any means. And, although Dolnick doesn't stress this he has to report what they write in their notes. And, there reflections of the trip. They are caught up in the reality that they volunteered and they are responsible for their own fate; yet they are in a very intimate situation which requires them to note the flaws of others - especially the leader. It is hard work and Powell expect them to do their job. Because he has only one arm there are many tasks he cannot perform, this becomes an aggravation too, but they all knew this in the beginning. Yet there is, as Dolnick tells the story, a need to be loyal to the mission and the needs of others; and so they have their experiences where great joy and satisfaction is express by the group after some tough experience. (...) Because it is a history, not a novel, the author tells of the future lives of the men. He tells what he can based on
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Summary: I LOVE this book!
Review: A friend of mine gave me this book as a gift, and I could hardly put it down. The adventure is astonishing, and the writing is terrific. It's the best kind of adventure tale, and it's all true! Amazon's reviewer had it right -- anyone who liked Undaunted Courage will LOVE Down the Great Unknown.
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Summary: A Ripping Good (True) Story!
Review: A very good book but I wanted more detail about canyonland geology and natural history as Powell interpreted them. Frankly, I would have shot Powell on Day 15 and mutineered! I credit these men for putting up with his obsessive personality. Actually, I would have set out with those three doomed men, who fearing death by shooting yet more rapids, were swallowed up in the desert.
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Summary: Undaunted Courage meets The Perfect Storm
Review: Actually, the title of my review about sums up this book. It's written in a very history-for-the-lay-person Ambrosic style (yet with quotation marks in all the right places) with a heaping serving of Jon Krakauer/Sebastian Junger. Misery, tragedy and survival are ever-present, balanced with the thrill of discovery and the excitement of accomplishment. In a strange way, it reminded me also of the novel Cold Mountain, as food and hunger are continuous themes. If you like books about the history of the American West, white water rafting, geology, endurance and tragedy, you'll find this a great read. If you like Undaunted Courage, I recommend plunging into it.
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Summary: Good subject, terrible writing
Review: I finished this book because the subject matter was so interesting, when all the while the narrative style was killing me!
The author really beats a dead horse trying to drive home how dangerous, fast, and powerful the river is. I felt like screaming "enough already"!
However, some images from the book still haunt me. And I did finish it cover to cover, staying up late at night, despite the annoying author!
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Summary: Down the Great Unknown
Review: I have never been down the Green River, the Colorado River or even to the Grand Canyon. Having read Dolnick's book about John Wesley Powell's first expedition, I definitely want to go there and read more about this. Dolnick's writing is so vivid, and clear that you almost feel like you are on the expedition too. It would be hard to write a fictional account of an adventure that would be more exciting than Powell's expedition. Every day there was some thing more awful or wonderful than the day before. Real unexplored territory! Looking at the bibliography and chapter notes, it is obvious that Dolnick did a great deal of research before he wrote this book. The use of the primary sources, especially diaries of men on the expedition, add a great deal to the delight of reading this book. You get to know some of the "characters" quite well. A highly recommended read.
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Summary: Didn't expect to enjoy a book on this subject so much!
Review: I loved Dolnick's book on Freudian psychoanalysis, "Madness on the Couch," which is the only reason I bought this book. Imagine my surprise to discover that I was equally absorbed in reading his account of an adventure in the great outdoors (a subject I have never read about before and had little interest in). "Down the Great Unknown" is written in the same lively, straightforward and engaging style as the earlier book. The often surprising comparisons he draws in describing people or events are not only witty but highly effective. The wealth of research that went into this work is reflected in the notes on each chapter found at the back of the book, but the writing is informal and never takes on an academic tone. Rather, it reads almost like a tale told around the campfire by a particularly ingenious friend. Now I'm waiting to see what subject he tackles next time
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Summary: Fascinating Story with Some Annoying Tangents
Review: I've long been fascinated with early exploration of the Colorado plateau area of the U.S. This book is fascinating particularly because the author wove together information from many sources rather than rely on just a single journal. By comparing what different men wrote about the same events on the same day, you feel like you've gotten a realistic view of what happened, toning down on Powell's indefatigable optimism and some of his companion's discovery of dire consequences behind every rock. The one annoying part is that there are a few too many long deviations from the story to explore other threads. I think these were intended to provide background, especially to Powell's character. But too many times they just went on too long, into too much detail, particularly Powell's Civil War experiences. I certainly didn't expect to read quite so much about blood and gore in a story about Grand Canyon exploration during which no one died on the river or even seriously injured. Nevertheless, this is a very good, can't-put-it-down read.
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Summary: Exciting, but Flawed, Historical Account
Review: If author Edward Dolnick had been content to provide a straightforwrd account of John Wesley Powell's historic exploration of the Grand Canyon, then "Down the Great Unknown" would be a timeless adventure classic. Dolnick is a gifted writer with a great flair for enticing details. Unfortunately, he continually gets sidetracked with stories having little or nothing to do with expedition, and often goes, if you'll pardon the pun, overboard with his cutesy metaphors. The end result is an informative book that is almost as exhausting to read as the expedition itself was to endure. The tale of the Powell expedition hardly needs embellishing. He set out with nine men down the Green and Colorado rivers through what at the time was virtually unknown territory in wooden boats battling some of the most forbidding whitewater in the world. That his party survied at all is remarkable. That they did so without any deaths or serious injury (at least from accident or mishap), is astounding. Dolnick's problem as a narrator presents itself early on when he detours from the trip for two full chapters describing Powell's losing his arm at the Battle of Shiloh. Certainly, the injury is an important part of Powell's story, but a complete retelling of the history of battle itself is unnecessary. As the book progresses, Dolnick gets distracted with other Grand Canyon anecdotes, and often spends time describing in the second person what it is like to go rafting in the area today. One or two such descriptions would have sufficed, but the author keeps going back to them again and again. Overall, "Down the Great Unknown" covers a fascinating subject, but is a widely uneven reading experience.
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