<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing and Factual Read!
Review: I loved this book! Well written for even the historical novice. Fascinating tale of hardship and tragedy from both historical viewpoint and human frailty. The additional trips made by the author, Owen Beattie, and company showed a true respect for humankind. His written words regarding the excavation and autopsies of the lost men, was both rewarding in explanation and thrilling in discovery. This historical book drew me in and I couldn't put the book down. I've become so fascinated with the fate of the Franklin Expedition that I am reading other books relating to this and other failed Arctic expeditions. Who knew history could be so fascinating? Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, not great
Review: I would use this book to complete a collection on polar exploration and the search for the Northwest Passage; however, this wouldn't be my starter book. By itself, the book unravels a great historical mystery, of why the Franklin crew vanish so mysteriously. However, I rap the book for failing to fully exploit the potential tail before it. With the loss of 129 lives, abandoning the ship, and eventual cannibolism, there's a great story waiting to be told. Alas, this book does not do it. Instead, it concentrates on the archeological aspects of uncovering the mystery of why the Franklin expidition vanished, which is only semi-interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: Graphic and Chilling
Review: While not perhaps a "must-have" for aficionados of the field of polar literature, this is nevertheless a very good book and is well suited as a sort of primer to those who have only a casual interest in the subject.The book provides a brief outline of disappearance the Franklin Expedition on its quest for the Northwest Passage in the early 1800s and the aftermath of the search conducted by various international parties, government and otherwise. It then relates the events of three research expeditions undertaken by the author, a forensic anthropologist who was interested in finding and reviewing various skeletal remains originally discovered decades after the loss of the Franklin party. Eventually, he concentrates his efforts on exhuming the frozen bodies of three crewmen who had died in the Franklin Expedition's first icebound season, before they had well and truly plunged irrevocably into tragedy. These men had been buried in well-prepared graves on a small island north of Canada's Hudson Bay. Even to this day, the bodies remain fantastically preserved, and the author was able to uncover intriguing evidence that suggests that the expedition did not succumb in a heroic struggle against the large and grand forces of nature, but rather fell to altogether more pedestrian and minute agents. The exhumation and autopsy processes are well described, and the theory that later develops is explained simply enough for the layman to follow. Perhaps the biggest strength of this book is the beautifully composed color photos that show the gravesites and the actual bodies. These pictures are truly stirring and invocative. The maps are also nicely done. However, the book would have benefited from a timeline and from an additional map showing the location of various Franklin party remains and artifacts. It sometimes becomes difficult to recall who was found where and when, since as it turns out, the expedition members covered a lot of ground and some of them split up. With that exception, though, this is an interesting book and a quick but thought-provoking read.
<< 1 >>
| 
