How the English Made the Alps

Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: "How the English Made the Alps" pretty much achieves exactly what the title suggests. The book provides an excellent chronological account of how English visitors started by exploring and climbing in the Alps, and then went on through "health tourism" and the pursuit of winter sports to develop the region commercially.

Ring has clearly done pretty exhaustive research into the topic, particularly on the conquests of various mountain peaks. He conveys the initial scientific endeavour that spurred climbers on, and also manages to communicate the eccentricity of pursuing alpine "conquest" once the scientific rationale had disappeared.

Given the title, there is a strong Anglo-bias to the writing which perhaps underplays some of the contributions from other countries - foreign climbers are seen generally in the light of competitors and foils for English advances. Again, with the constraints of the title, there is little of the early history of the region in the volume. These are minor quibbles, however, in what is overall a very good account. It is a shame that Fleming's "Killing Dragons" was published so close to this - you wait years for a decent account of the development of the Alps, and then two come along at once. There is enough difference between the two, however, that readers will benefit from reading both.