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Rating: 
Summary: Superb
Review: "Barrow's Boys" is a fun and fascinating read. It has everything: edge-of-your-seat adventure, history, and, most important, a host of fascinating characters. Don't miss it!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent read
Review: Barrow's Boys is an account of the British exploring efforts of the known (and unknown) world of the first half of the 19th Century. Spearheaded by Sir John Barrow, Second Secretary of the Admiralty, the British Navy sent out a number of ships to diverse areas of the globe. Notably Fleming does not focus solely on the Arctic explorative efforts for which Barrow is most well known. Fleming argues that Barrow could well be considered the father of Global exploration. British explorers penetrated the frozen wastes of the Arctic, and Antarctic, as well as the African interior, all in the name of Science and Knowledge.
Fergus Fleming is a particular favorite of mine, since I picked up his book "90 degrees North" a couple of years ago. He has a particular knack for drawing fine textual character sketches of the individuals whose tales he tells. Barrow's Boys is no exception. Fleming relates with ease the characters and adventures (and tragedies) of John and James Ross, of Parry, Back, Richardson, and the doomed Sir John Franklin.
Lesser known names in the annals of British exploration are not neglected: Lyon and Ritchie's mission to find the source of the Congo via the Sahara is discussed, as is James Tuckey, on which the book first begins it's exploration narrative after having introduced Sir John Barrow in the first chapter. The stubborness and arrogance often found in Victorian Englishmen that often rendered them inflexible to changes in their environment- for example the wearing a heavy woollen navy uniform in the suffocating heat of Africa- is well portrayed by Fleming.
Barrow's Boys covers the period between 1816 (Tuckey sails to the Congo) to 1859 (the efforts to locate the missing Franklin exidition). A neat touch is the epilogue, in which Fleming relates briefly the lives of the British explorers after they had their moment in the sun. Barrow's Boys is authorative, but by no means academic, as it is a very easy read. Recommended for those with an interest in exploration, particularly from the viewpoint of the British.
Rating:
Summary: Accomplished Little But What a Time!
Review: Fergus Fleming does another great job at painting a picture of heroic adventure and daring discoveries that filled in some bland spots on the map in the early eighteenght century but achieved little of scientific or economic valure at the cost of a great many lives. Barrow's Boys is not truly a biography of Sir John Barrow but a look at all the explorations he launched during his tenure as Second Secretary to the British Admiralty. All the greats are here from William Edward Parry to James and John Ross, from John Rae to Lady Jane Franlin and John Franklin. The destinations range from Africa to the Arctic with shorter excursions to the Antarctic and Australia. It is a thrilling ride with much foolhardiness, some bravery, and a spot of cannibalism or two. A wonderful read.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best histories written
Review: Fleming is an excellent writer, period. The pages just fly by. One could almost place this book in the Humor section. Unlike most historians, he is quick to judge (and smear) a protagonist. John Barrow, the backbone of these stories, is continually chided. He makes great use of journal entries, many of which were written under great stress--could many write in that wordy, superfluous 19th-century prose while holed up in Saharan Africa? Not likely.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Lively History
Review: I bought this book almost by accident, but I'm darned pleased that I did. Fleming recaps a period of manic exploration mania in British history, starting with the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and extending into the 1840s, with the Franklin expedition and its various would-be rescuers. Some of these stories -- those about the Back, Parry, Ross, Franklin et al. Arctic voyages -- have been told many times before. Others, like Laing's journey to Timbuktu, or James Ross's discovery of the Antarctic mainland, have not. Don't let familiarity with the period, or with some parts of the story, keep you away from this book.One of the main reasons to buy "Barrow's Boys" is Fleming's dry humor, and ability to deflate the Dudley Do-Right pretense of some of the key players. Barrow himself emerges as a rather dull bureaucratic non-entity, but the frenzy of exploration he unleashed is anything but dull.
Rating:
Summary: Cracking fun - intellectually stimulating
Review: I received Barrow's Boys as an unexpected gift and was very pleasantly surprised when I started reading. I've always been interested in modern history and science/technology but I knew next to nothing about polar exploration before reading this book. I'm now a polar enthusiast and Fleming's narrative spurred me into reading many of the classic works (Chapsley-Garrard's 'Worst Journey in the World' for example). Barrow's Boys is not an academic text and I'm sure existing experts will know most of the information already. For those new to the field though, Fleming has created a cracking good read which is intellectually stimulating and leaves you wanting to find out more. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific!
Review: I recently enjoyed 'Blue Latitudes', the story of Captain Cook's three great voyages of discovery. 'Barrow's Boys' is a wonderful companion piece, carrying on the incredible story of British exploration following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The author presents these interwoven stories in a well researched, breezy narrative and with a dash of humour that keeps the pages turning and the reader wishing for more. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A great look at exploration
Review: If you are a lover of adventure and exploration you'll love this book. Fergus Fleming has done a marvelous job of relating tales of British explorers of the early 1800's. Fleming has a knack for telling the story with great wit and you'll often smile as he brings these characters to life. From the Sahara to the Arctic and to the Antarctic and Australia Barrow (Second Secretary of the Admiralty) sends his "boys" in search of glory for the British. Many of these stories have been written about before but bringing them together as Fleming has done, puts this period of exploration in prospective. It was a great time for England even though most of these epics ended in disaster and failed to prove much of what Barrow was looking for.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books of its kind
Review: Simply put it's a great book. "Barrow's Boys" is filled with amazing stories of exploration and consequent adventure in the first half of the 19th century. The title figure of Barrow is himself a rather uninteresting and, at least to me, disagreeable chap who takes a rightful place in the far background of this book. Barrow's importance is as the man who green-lighted the numerous British explorations detailed in Fleming's book.
Most were in search of the elusive Northwest Passage, which took many a ship into the harrowing Arctic environs. This provides many of "Barrow's Boys" most captivating stories as ships, captains and crews battle the elements. The effect of extreme cold, severe Arctic storms and seemingly endless dark winters are hard to imagine. Fleming, to his credit, helps nudge the reader's imagination. One of his primary tools, and indeed a key to the success of the book, are the copious logs left behind by ship captains. What a treasure chest of primary documents that Fleming takes full advantage of.
In addition to fighting the bitter cold, explorers challenged opposite elements in Africa in search of rivers and cities. Besides having to negotiate extreme dessert or jungle heat, explorers had to ward off myriad diseases and pass though the lands of hostile natives, often while seeking their help.
It's all compelling stuff and Fleming has a writing style that never imposes itself on the stories but helps highlight elements of them.
One of the highest praises of a history book is that it inspires the reader to want to read and know more. Well, through "Barrow's Boys" Fergus Fleming has done precisely that.
Rating:
Summary: Filling in the gaps
Review: This book not only fills in the gaps on history it tells the story of how the gaps on our maps were filled in. From the wastelands of the Sahara to the northwest passage in Canada this book chronicles the adventures and misadventures of the men who dared to do the impossible. On Shoestring budgets these people went literally to the ends of the earth to fill in 'pointless' parts of the map. Yet without them we would never know what lurks in the extremes of our world. This is a grand tribute to English fortitude and daring the mapping of these savage areas had never been attempted or done before because no people, and no country had the guts to send men into such extremes of human endurance. Told as best it could be told, in flowing language this is a lovely account of human daring and folly.
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