Wallace MacCaffrey, Wallace MacCaffrey:Elizabeth I (Hodder Arnold Publication)
- Paperback 1999, ISBN: 9780340614556
bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous s… More...
bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. The storm, which claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray, would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air, Krakauer's epic account of the May 1996 disaster.By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event. He takes great pains to provide a balanced picture of the people and events he witnessed and gives due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He also avoids blasting easy targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who brought an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe provides a great deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber's death. Clearly, Krakauer remains haunted by the disaster, and although he relates a number of incidents in which he acted selflessly and even heroically, he seems unable to view those instances objectively. In the end, despite his evenhanded and even generous assessment of others' actions, he reserves a full measure of vitriol for himself.This updated trade paperback edition of Into Thin Air includes an extensive new postscript that sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate that flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy. "I have no doubt that Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day," writes Krakauer in the postscript, dated August 1999. "What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients." As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer recounts his last conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I.In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters--a prestigious prize intended "to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment." According to the Academy's citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind.", Anchor; Illustrated edition (October 19, 1999), 0, Edward Arnold Publication. Very Good. 6.14 x 1 x 9.21 inches. Paperback. 1994. 480 pages. Name on ffep<br>In this major biography, MacCaffrey fo cuses on Elizabeth's career as a practicing politician, taking in to account her formative personal experiences, her temperament, h er own view of her role, and the constraints she frequently faced . Editorial Reviews Review Queen Elizabeth (1533-1609) ruled E ngland for more than 40 years, marking an age and establishing he r country as a significant power. MacCaffrey, a professor emeritu s of history at Harvard, concentrates on the queen as a politicia n and analyzes her successes and failures in this scholarly study of her statecraft. He highlights such historical events as the S panish Armada (1585) and the establishment of the Church of Engla nd (1599). The queen's decision to send an army to fight Spanish rule in the Netherlands plunged her country into war; she was, ho wever, able to supplant Catholicism and establish Protestantism a s the state religion without causing a civil revolt at home. As p ortrayed by MacCaffrey, the strength of Elizabeth's reign rested on her great popularity; but she was frequently plagued by indeci sion, one of her few weaknesses. ?Publishers Weekly She claimed to have the heart and stomach of a king, though in the frail body of a weak woman. Elizabeth I of England inspired the love of her people, encouraged arts and learning, longed for peace while wag ing war--and with her vacillation and dithering could drive her p rivy counselors mad. MacCaffrey, fellow of the Royal Historical S ociety and author of two previous works on Elizabeth, focuses on the politician behind the Virgin Queen, her vision shaped by year s of court intrigue and fear, and her fallibility as well as stat ecraft...Well-researched...sheds new light on a complex, contradi ctory queen. Recommended for larger history collections. ?Library Journal As presented by MacCaffrey the resolutely unsentimental Elizabeth I is less the indomitable, manifestly destined virago of English national myth than a wary practitioner of royal Realpo litik, gingerly testing the waters before plotting any course in the unpredictable seas of late Renaissance statecraft. In fact, g iven the conventional heroic picture of the Elizabethan Age, the Virgin Queen proves a surprisingly cautious, even timid, helmsper son here, loath to commit her authority to a consistent path in d omestic politics or to expend her nation's slim human and materia l resources on overseas adventures. She appears as a compulsive c onsensus-builder always conscious of the fragility of her constit uency and the challenges to her authority posed by her sex, the r eligious schisms still racking the English polity, and the consta nt intrigues of her Scottish cousin and rival, Mary Stuart. MacCa ffrey organizes his study well, defining and dealing with each of the major political issues of Elizabeth's reign in turn--notably , the domestic religious situation, its international repercussio ns, and Elizabeth's interactions with Mary and the monarch's othe r rivals, suitors, and aspiring successors. In the author's convi ncing portrait, we see a political establishment in the throes of a sometimes uncertain transition between a waning feudalism and a nascent, still very uncertain, modernity. But the almost exclus ively political focus here threatens to engulf its human subject in the sometimes bewildering machinations of Tudor diplomacy: Mac Caffrey's speculations, for instance, that the spectacular theatr icality of the Elizabethan court probably helped to fulfil the em otional needs of a lonely and isolated human being'' are an excep tion to his strict reliance on the documentary record. A solid, s cholarly study that will please historians--but leave latter-day monarchists still searching for the human essence of the fascinat ing Elizabeth I. ?Kirkus Now at last it [Sir John Neale's 1934 b iography of Elizabeth I] faces an academic challenge. ?The Times Higher Education Supplement Surely the most important [biography ] since Neale's appeared nearly sixty years ago...gives us a pers uasive picture of the queen, sympathetic but wholly without hagio graphy ?History The strength of Professor MacCaffrey's treatment lies in the clarity with which he presents the portrait of Eliza beth as policy maker, and her strengths and weaknesses in that ca pacity. As a public figure his skills do justice to her role. ?Ar chive for Reformation History Shrewd judgments are numerous, and the narrative incorporates subtle analyses of events, personalit ies, and the relationships between them. ?Journal of Modern Histo ry About the Author Wallace MacCaffrey is a professor emeritus at Harvard University </div About the Author Wallace MacCaffre y is a professor emeritus at Harvard University </div ., Edward Arnold Publication, 1994, 3<
