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Rating: 
Summary: An extraordinarily exhilarating little book!
Review: An intriguing title and the book more than lived up to the promise. Matthew Webb was a sportsman, a dreamer and a true eccentric. Kathy Watson gets under the skin of the man and his world. You share his triumph in crossing the Channel and feel his pain at his later decline. I've already given this book as presents to friends and family and it's always been much appreciated even by people who aren't interested in swimming or who don't usually like biography.
Rating:
Summary: An extraordinarily exhilarating little book!
Review: Captain Matthew Webb was the first person to swim the English Channel in 1875. This book tells us the story of that amazing feat and gives a little insight into both the man and the society in which he lived. It has proved difficult for the author to give the full account of Captain Webb due to the scarce amount of material on him both before and after his most famous swim. Frequently, Watson uses a combination of hearsay contemporary biography by those who knew, well or otherwise, Captain Webb and her own gut instinct when recreating certain scenes and issues central to the story. I think she has made an admirable if undistinguished attempt at this. The pity of the whole book is that it is ill-proportioned. Watson chooses (obviously rightly) to spend a good deal of time on the Channel swim but is rather too hasty in describing what became of the man afterwards. It appears from this narrative that Webb was a virtual recluse during the year after his swim (and at the height of his fame). The next we hear of the man is his sudden dive into obscurity and the many ill advised attempts at recreating his fame with more outlandish and obscure endurance swim records and races. These are equally divided between his time in America as well as Britain. The years after Webb's swim are glossed over rather quickly, losing the opportunity to develop the character of Webb as well as the times in which it all happened. I do not attribute this failing to the author particularly as there does seem to be a dearth of information pertaining to the man. But I do still think more could have been made of those years, and similarly the rather rushed manner in which his death is portrayed with little serious effort to understand what was going on in the mind of the man, to provide a more detailed study. I also found it infuriating the way in which the author described certain events with little or no dynamism through choice of word or phrase. The prime example being how the band "play "See the Conquering Hero Comes" during his fame but that it is merely "strained" when performed during his fall from the public eye. On top of this, we have to put up with the author's almost schoolgirl admiration for Webb rather like the reaction of today's teen to today's teen band. I can fully appreciated the amazing achievement of the man without having him placed on a pedestal as the idol that Kathy Watson portrays him as. In my opinion it is very fortunate that the subject is of such interest on its own that no amount of poor writing can spoil it. What Captain Webb did all those years ago, both for swimming and for himself, stand alone as remarkable. This book should be read as an education of man's stamina and resolve as well as an example of how easy it is to fall from grace.
Rating: 
Summary: A Noble Attempt
Review: Captain Matthew Webb was the first person to swim the English Channel in 1875. This book tells us the story of that amazing feat and gives a little insight into both the man and the society in which he lived. It has proved difficult for the author to give the full account of Captain Webb due to the scarce amount of material on him both before and after his most famous swim. Frequently, Watson uses a combination of hearsay contemporary biography by those who knew, well or otherwise, Captain Webb and her own gut instinct when recreating certain scenes and issues central to the story. I think she has made an admirable if undistinguished attempt at this. The pity of the whole book is that it is ill-proportioned. Watson chooses (obviously rightly) to spend a good deal of time on the Channel swim but is rather too hasty in describing what became of the man afterwards. It appears from this narrative that Webb was a virtual recluse during the year after his swim (and at the height of his fame). The next we hear of the man is his sudden dive into obscurity and the many ill advised attempts at recreating his fame with more outlandish and obscure endurance swim records and races. These are equally divided between his time in America as well as Britain. The years after Webb's swim are glossed over rather quickly, losing the opportunity to develop the character of Webb as well as the times in which it all happened. I do not attribute this failing to the author particularly as there does seem to be a dearth of information pertaining to the man. But I do still think more could have been made of those years, and similarly the rather rushed manner in which his death is portrayed with little serious effort to understand what was going on in the mind of the man, to provide a more detailed study. I also found it infuriating the way in which the author described certain events with little or no dynamism through choice of word or phrase. The prime example being how the band "play "See the Conquering Hero Comes" during his fame but that it is merely "strained" when performed during his fall from the public eye. On top of this, we have to put up with the author's almost schoolgirl admiration for Webb rather like the reaction of today's teen to today's teen band. I can fully appreciated the amazing achievement of the man without having him placed on a pedestal as the idol that Kathy Watson portrays him as. In my opinion it is very fortunate that the subject is of such interest on its own that no amount of poor writing can spoil it. What Captain Webb did all those years ago, both for swimming and for himself, stand alone as remarkable. This book should be read as an education of man's stamina and resolve as well as an example of how easy it is to fall from grace.
Rating: 
Summary: A Swimming Star is Born
Review: THE CROSSING is the biography of daredevil sailor Matthew Webb who in 1875 became the first man to swim The English Channel...a feat which brought him acclaim and indirectly contributed to his demise by the trappings of notoriety. This is an absorbing (and sad!) study of the emergence, glory, descent, and eventual debasement of an icon...as well as an interesting commentary on the addictive nature of fame. THE CROSSING is also noteworthy as a chronicle of the birth of modern swimming and a satisfying glimpse into mid-Victorian culture and social mores. Well written, insightful, and quite fascinating.
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