Customer Reviews

The Dishonorable Dr. Cook: Debunking the Notorious McKinley Hoax

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Late Bradford Washburn is no stranger to Mount McKinley, its history and its environment. So I am bit surprised that people don't give him his due credit when he came out with this book that centered around Dr. Frederick Cook and his false claims to be the first man to climbed Mount McKinley.

One previous reviewer wrote about the book Robert Bryce did on the same subject and how Washburn failed to credit him. It could be that maybe Washburn did forget. But then it could be that Washburn knew enough about the subject himself to come up with a book that centered strictly around Dr. Cook's fraud-ridden McKinley climb, using Cook's own photographs to discredit him completely.

This book is well illustrated to prove beyond the shadow of any doubt, that Dr. Cook faked his story about climbing Mount McKinley. Washburn uses Cook's own photographs and compared it with modern ones and pointed it out on the map to show where Cook was at each photograph. Authors also showed how Cook's photos were cropped to create a fantasy to support Cook's claims of conquering McKinley when he came no where close to it. The book is very clearly written, easy to read and follow.

I highly recommended this book to anyone who have any interest in the history of McKinley, plus the photographs inside, even Cook's, proves to be quite noteworthy as well. At least for me, this book settled all accounts on Dr. Frederick Cook's big hoax.

Washburn is a thorough detective who leaves no doubt Cook was a fraud. His photography from airplanes, and the illustrations show the true scale of the mountains, peaks, glaciers, etc. surrounding McKinley. This makes it easy to understand why his companions back at camp immediately recognized Cook's claim as a lie. They knew he could not have covered all that distance, climbed that mother of all mountains, and then come back in so few days.

What fascinates me is how Cook got the public to believe it by working the media. His magazine stories and photos, books, lectures, all created the illusion that he had done something spectacular. But he had not! He only went camping ...

Washburn is a remarkable individual, a fine writer, and a photographer on a par with Ansel Adams. This work is a masterpiece from a mountaineering genius. It is too bad he had nothing more than Cook to use as a foil.

By the way - the publisher made a serious mistake using the smallest type font used for body text I have ever seen in a book. One could increase font size several points and still have generous margins. What were they thinking? This is tiny text! A flaw I'll try to overlook from this magnificent end to the Cook debate.

In response to previous reviews --

The hardcover 1st edition I am holding in my hand includes a sticker on page 18 (after the preface and intro) that reads:

"BIBLIOGRAPHIC ENTRY AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Mountaineers Books and the authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the valuable work of Robert M. Bryce in _Cook & Peary: The Polar Controversy Resolved_, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA (1997; 1133 pages) The work covers the life of Dr. Frederick A. Cook and is illustrated with photos, maps, and sketches, and fully annotated with over 2,000 footnotes. The authors relied on this seminal reference for important factual information not previously published about Dr. Cook's early life and his subsequent claims to have climbed Mt. McKinley. We regret the omission of proper credit and citation in the original bibliography for _The Dishonorable Dr. Cook_."

Washburn and Cherici leave no doubt that Dr. Cook was a fraud. The book carefully lays out its claim in undisputable evidence both through text and pictures.

I couldn't put the book down. I will be surprised if this work doesn't nail the lid on the century long controversy.

Although i am just learning about my Great great Uncles real adventures from books instead of family hand me down stories this book is wanting me to read more on his life

As interesting as this book is, it cannot be considered the definitive work on the controversial Cook. Bradford Washburn is one of the most important names in American mountaineering. His photographs rival Ansel Adams. However, in publishing this book at 91, with a co-author, he seems to have failed to source his material. Robert M. Bryce published several years ago an exhaustive treatment of Cook and his claims. He consulted Washburn, who wrote him a note warmly congratulating Bryce on his work when the book was published. However, when this book was published, which lacks footnotes, Washburn failed to credit Bryce in any way. This was a complete error, as his co-author admitted; he submitted a bibiography that identifies Bryce as a source. But when reached by the Washington Post, and asked to explain the omission of Bryce's book, Washburn told the Post, "I don't know Bryce" and "to the best of my knowledge I've never laid eyes on his book. But you've got to remember you're dealing with a 91-year-old guy here." The sad fact is that Washburn is probably telling the truth based on his present memory, but that memory is just not very good. Washburn's coauthor admits that he "naturally" drew facts and sequences from Bryce's book, since it was both the most comprehensive and the most recent biography of Cook. The entire controversy is well covered in a February 4. 2002 article in the Washington Post. Apparently the omission of any mention of Bryce was due to someone who lives at Washburn's retirement home retyping the bibliography.

There is no doubt that Washburn drew on a vast amount of his own research for this book, although how much he wrote and how much was written by his coauthor is not clear. It is also clear that he reached his conclusion concerning Cook's false claim to have climbed Mount McKinley long before Bryce started his work. This is not a case of deliberate plagarism, and it not clear that Bryce's text was copied. However, it is unfortunate, that such a distinguished career ends on this note.

Nevertheless, if you are really interested in this subject, and Cook is very interesting, you need to read Bryce's book. He has footnoted his sources, discussed the matter at greater detail and his conclusion seems irrefutable.

Pete did a wonderful job in this book, Cook clearly was a fraud. No more question in my mind. Hope Pete gets in touch with us soon, its been far to long. Great Work! Ron & Anita

I bought this book as an admirer of a great mountaineer and photographer, Bradford Washburn. Frankly, I was disappointed with his denigration of Dr. Albert Cook who seemed to have accomplished quite a bit in his day and who I did not think deserved the criticism he received. What about his service with Admiral Peary in Greenland and with the Belgians in the Antarctic ?. And he apparently did quite a creditable job in 1902 when he explored but didn't reach the summit of Mt. McKinley.

The photography was great !!