Last of His Kind
The Life and Adventures of Bradford Washburn, America's Boldest Mountaineer
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4.3 • 4 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“Stunning and stirring.”
—Boston Globe
In The Last of His Kind, renowned adventure writer David Roberts gives readers a spellbinding history of mountain climbing in the twentieth century as told through the biography of Brad Washburn, legendary mountaineering pioneer and photographer. Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air, has praised David Roberts, saying, “Nobody alive writes better about mountaineering”—and nowhere is that truth more evident than in this breathtaking account of the life and exploits of America’s greatest mountain climber.
This meticulously researched narrative chronicles the larger-than-life story of a true American original:
Pioneering First Ascents: Follow Washburn’s audacious climbs of North America’s highest unclimbed peaks, from the sheer faces of the Alps to the unmapped wilderness of Alaska and the Yukon.Against the Odds: Experience the harrowing 1937 expedition that left Washburn and his partner marooned, leading to a desperate fight for survival against a flooding glacial river.Revolutionizing Exploration: Learn how Washburn’s visionary use of aerial photography, ski-planes, and airdrops forever changed the art of mountaineering in the great ranges.The Man Behind the Legend: Discover the driven, complex man behind the larger-than-life persona—from his early days as a boy adventurer to his four-decade career transforming Boston’s Museum of Science.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Before his 30th birthday, Bradford Washburn was already a legendary mountaineer, completing four major first ascents on his way to becoming "the greatest mountaineer in Alaskan history." Soon after, Washburn took over the creaky New England Museum of Natural History, which by his retirement in 1980, had become the renowned Boston Museum of Science. Washburn (1910 2007) was also an innovative cartographer as well as a self-taught photographer whose aerial shots garnered major acclaim. A longtime friend of Washburn and a former mountaineer, Roberts (No Shortcuts to the Top) is an ideal candidate for writing Washburn's biography, but the book lacks the depth of compelling biographies. Roberts's decision to extensively profile Washburn's various expeditions (and those of others) offers no insight on the man, while contributing to the book's glacial pace. Roberts obviously has nothing but admiration for Washburn and his accomplishments, but that inhibits opportunities to examine the dark side of Washburn's personal life his responsibility for a fatal plane crash in 1938; son Ted's inappropriate behavior with high school students that divided the family which are almost glossed over.
