Customer Rating:  
Summary: Thorough and comprehensive
Comment: I highly recommend this book, although I have not read (yet) the books written by expedition leader Joe Wilcox and expedition member Howard Snyder.
You don't get much more thorough than this book, and yet it's not at all boring. It's a fascinating exploration into the history of this expedition: what is known and what can only be guessed at. Even more interesting is that Tabor interviews many of the principals (as many as he could find), including Bradford Washburn and his wife, Joe Wilcox, and Howard Snyder.
I've seen reviews to the effect that this book is "anti-Washburn." Hmmm. But Washburn wasn't "anti-Wilcox" (or "pro-hypocrisy")? I think Tabor probably did think that Washburn was being a tiny bit vindictive, not to mention hypocritical, but - as he should - he reports the facts and lets them speak for themselves. (An interesting sidenote: check out this account of Washburn's vindictiveness ca. 1994: http://www.cookpolar.org/mckinley.htm)
The conclusion reached by this book is that there was more than one factor in the tragedy. Where I felt Tabor punted was on the responsibility that Jerry Clark (in my opinion) bore, but perhaps it's tacky to call his judgement into question. *koff* [if you know who Jerry Clark is, you know why it might be considered tacky]
Other than that, though, this is a remarkably balanced book and the interviews with Wilcox and Snyder at the end are absolutely fascinating in the context of the rest of the book. This is a must-read if only for the skill Tabor demonstrates in reporting history. If you're into history, that is, as opposed to literature.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Suprise
Comment: I am one of those people that is always in the middle of eight books. I start a book, somewhere along the way I pick something else up, I get busy. this happens to me all the time. Some days I get hours to read other days just minutes - but I read everyday. truly one of my favorite things to do.
This book was something I stumbled on when I got my Kindle as a sample, it is something that is completely out of my normal realm. I am not an outdoor person, not a climber and have never read or really seen anything on the subject.
But from the first page I was completely sucked in and I couldn't put it down. extremely well written, fascinating story and extremely informative to a layman like me who had zero understanding of anything about mountaineering going in.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Chilling and Wonderful!
Comment: Tabor has put together a beautiful, extremely balanced account of a tragedy that includes the objective, the subjective, and quite tastefully, the emotions of the survivors. I read it once, and then had to read it again. The story deserved to be told again, and from a person far removed from the story. Tabor does an incredible job of piecing together an investigation some 40 years later. Tabor's descriptions made me want to, as Snyder described, put my parka on in my living room. Having climbed successfully to the top of Denali, I always counted myself lucky. This book shows just how truly lucky I was. A brilliant work!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Forever on the Mountain
Comment: Enjoyed the book quite a bit. Thought the author tried to be objective but his appraisals did make themselves known. However, his bias was even-handed and therefore gave a pretty fair picture. Felt the comparison with Everest was not warranted and should not have been brought into the book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Preconceived opinions?
Comment: While browsing my local bookstore, I saw a book with a title that left no question in my mind about the subject: an event that happened 40 years ago and I could now read about the truth surrounding that tragedy on Mt. McKinley: Forever on the Mountain, by James Tabor. In the summer of 1967 I was full of dreams and anticipation as to what my second season at Mt. McKinley National Park might bring: new adventures, amazing sights, the trill of just the chance to view that magical mountain, Mt. McKinley. At the same time I was living my dreams, another group of young men were about to begin their own adventures and dreams, and attempt to summit the great mountain. As I read on, I realized sometimes in life no matter how well we plan and organize, things happen; attitudes and egos do not mix; politics and bureaucracy diminish the chance for success. In this book, these problems are brought forth and analyzed with a very straight forward approach, giving the public an unbiased solution of what happened and didn't happen in the most tragic disaster in North American climbing history. I thought it was a great read, especially having lived at McKinley during the event, and is important for anyone who has preconceived opinions about what actually took place on the mountain.
Gary Smith
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