Great Exploration Hoaxes

Name: Great Exploration Hoaxes
Brand: Brilliance Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: David Roberts
ISBN: 9781799727354

Author: David Roberts

Narrator: David de Vries

Unabridged: 8 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Published: 08/12/2020

Categories: Nonfiction, History

Synopsis

Did Peary reach the North Pole? Was Admiral Byrd the first to fly over it? Did Frederick Cook actually make the first ascent of Mt. McKinley? Spanning 450 years of history, Great Exploration Hoaxes tells the spellbinding stories of ten men who pursued glory at any cost even the truth. Acclaimed author and explorer David Roberts delves deeply into the psychology behind the stunt and asks why these individuals, all of whom were exceptionally able, would perpetrate fraud on such a grand and public scale and defend it to their deaths, even in the face of damning evidence, and why these dubious achievements are still so hotly debated, often hundreds of years afterward.Demonstrating that the qualities that brought an individual so close to his goal were often the same ones that drove him to fake success, Great Exploration Hoaxes is history at its best: entertaining, provocative, and revealing of human nature.

About David Roberts

David Roberts (born 1943) is a climber, mountaineer, and author of books and articles about climbing. He is particularly noted for his books The Mountain of My Fear and Deborah: A Wilderness Narrative, chronicling major ascents in Alaska in the 1960s, which had a major impact on the form of mountaineering literature. In thirteen seasons spent in the Alaskan wilderness, Roberts is well known for many first ascents, including the Wickersham Wall on Mount McKinley, the West rib of Mount Huntington, climbing in the Western Brooks Range and the Kichatna Spires, and on the East Face of Mount Dickey.Roberts is the son of Walter Orr Roberts and mentor to Jon Krakauer.David Roberts attended Harvard University, where he received a mathematics degree in 1965. He was a member of and former president of the Harvard Mountaineering Club. He also received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Denver in 1970.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lauren on January 13, 2018

The actual stories I found fascinating - I love stories that stay in a gray area (is it true or not, who knows?) and didn’t mind the semi-academic style. A few things really bothered me though, primarily his attempt to draw connections between the hoaxers. Arrogance and desperation as contributors a......more

Goodreads review by Jean on May 13, 2020

This fantastically unique and ambitious book effectively debunks some of exploration’s greatest hoaxes. With his usual level of skepticism and insight, David Roberts uses his investigative flair to shed light on some of the greatest liars the world has ever seen. Filled with drollery and intrigue, at......more

Goodreads review by Rob on April 16, 2020

The first two chapters of this book read like a text book and were a total slog, and I almost abandoned it, but I’m glad I didn’t. Once I got into the more modern stories, I couldn’t put this book down. Really great read if you are into polar exploration or mountaineering at all. Probably deserves a......more

Goodreads review by Paul on May 22, 2022

Sebastian Cabot son stealing dad's achievements! Father Hennepin with no fear of the divine taking credit for LaSalle's traversing Mississippi. James Bruce descendant of Robert The Bruce unable to convince the world of his Abyssinian adventure. Captain Sam Adams aborted Colorado Steamboat business c......more

Goodreads review by Brenda on September 30, 2023

I never had heard of many of these men and their claimed accomplishments but I was fascinated by the author’s use of trial methods in sifting through the data. I will never again simply go along with the masses. Now I hope to more critically analyze data before jumping to any conclusion. Quite a fas......more