Customer Reviews

Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

At last! - a proper adult biography of Roy Chapman Andrews. Charles Gallenkamp has written an indepth book about the life of Andrews and the times that he lived in; they are both fascinating. Despite 3 previous attempts by other authors [1930, 1968, 1972 ]to capture the true essence of Andrews, and numerous 'Juvenile' books on the market today - until Gallenkamp's 'Dragon Hunter' There has been no proper biography of Andrews written. If you love to read about real life exploration, discovery, dinosaurs, and bandits; this is a great book. If you want to learn about how Andrews put the Central Asiatic Expeditions together, how personnel was selected, life in the Gobi, and the political intrigue of 1920's China - this is also a great book you will really enjoy. 32 pages of B/W photos are reproduced on glossy paper; a few of these images have never been seen by the public before. Of particular note are the drawings by Karen Wright, which were created for this book. My one complaint is that this bio of Andrews centers around the famous expeditions to Mongolia, but does not go into as much detail about Andrews' earlier whale research days, or his life after the Mongolian Expeditions. Gallenkamp's 'Dragon Hunter' portrays the real-life accomplsihments of a real-life man; warts and all. It is a gripping read, and you quickly realize how much nonsense has previously been written about Andrews. Move over Indiana Jones - here is the real thing. The Central Asiatic Expeditions (1922-1930) comprised the most ambitious scientific venture ever launched from the United States up to that time. Supported by New York's American Museum of Natural History, Andrews and palaeontologist Walter Granger conducted five expeditions to the last unmarked areas of the globe, the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. In Dragon Hunter, Gallenkamp expertly recounts the tremendous discoveries, and it is filled with tales of Andrews and his team surviving sandstorms, and civil war. Gallenkamp tells Andrews's incredible life story, from his beginnings sweeping floors in the taxidermy dept at the American Museum of Natural History, N.Y., to his quick rise to international fame as one of the century's most acclaimed explorers. I admit to reading this all in one night - staying up way past my bedtime. Add "Dragon Hunter" to your summer reading pile - you will not be dissapointed.

Before the Jurassic Park boom, little boys all had an enthusiasm for dinosaurs, and much of that enthusiasm was fueled by an explorer who only now has his first full biography, _Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions_ (Viking) by Charles Gallenkamp. It is a great monument to a forgotten explorer and collector.

Andrews began an autobiographical volume with a foreword that included the words, "I was born to be an explorer. There was never any decision to make. I couldn't do anything else and be happy." He had humble beginnings in Benoit, Wisconsin, but dreamed of exploring for the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He literally told the director there that if it were just a matter of mopping the museum floors, that was what he wanted to do. And he did it, eventually becoming the director of the museum. From floors he went to taxidermy, and then to field expeditions about whales, and then to his five huge famous expeditions into Mongolia from 1922 to 1930. Andrews had superb skills at planning and organizing his expeditions, but was he was a brilliant salesman, enlisting the financial aid of members of New York society. The descriptions of his expeditions make exciting reading, as sandstorms, snowstorms, and brigands all battered the cars, camels, and explorers. But he brought back dinosaur eggs, which caused a sensation, _Velociraptor_, and much more.

_Dragon Hunter_ is a well researched and at times exciting telling of the adventures of an American original. Gallenkamp has usefully summarized the Mongolian regional politics as well as New York society of the time, and has made it clear just how the publicity-happy Andrews became a sensation in his day. His record had been sadly neglected by the museum, which is now making amends. The book ends with an epilogue to show how the finds that Andrews fought to get back to the museum have proved a foundation of much of modern paleontology. We have explorers of other types now, but we will not see explorations of this grandeur, size, and style again.

Although I enjoyed this book, it left me with many unanswered questions. Overall it was "dry" and I didn't get a real feel of Andrews as a man or daily life and conditions on the expeditions. Finally, the only map provided by the publishers is woeful with microscopically small type for the place names!

"Dragon Hunter" by Charles Gallenkamp, is the latest contribution to the Andrews' hagiography. Gallenkamp focuses much of his narrative of Andrews' life on the Central Asiatic Expeditions. Along the way, Gallenkamp documents Andrews capacities for self-aggrandizement and embellishment, if not outright alteration, of historical facts in his own writings. Andrews role as an agent of the U.S.'s Office of Naval Intelligence was as a civilian informant, not as a military man or spy. And it occurred essentially after W.W.-I, not during. Gallenkamp also acknolwedges that Andrews already had extensive firsthand experience with the Kalgan-Urga (Ulan Bator) portion of Mongolia prior to the CAE, having traveled through it several times by car at the end of W.W.-I. Indeed, Andrews and various companions traveled by auto well beyond Urga, by automobile in 1919, to future CAE locations such as the Tola River Valley, Tze Tzen Wang, Ougin River, and Sain Noin Khan.

Gallenkamp's account of the impetus for the CAE also ignores the critical effect Johann Gunnar Andersson and the Swedish fossil collecting enterprise had on Andrews. And Gallenkamp neglects the highly relevant and much larger context of America's keen post-World War I interest in this part of Asia. Instead, Gallenkamp (especially p. 84) attributes the CAE entirely to Andrews' acumen and desire to verify the scientific theories of his mentor, Henry Osborn. Yet, conversely, Gallenkamp earlier offered this frank, overall appraisal of Andrews at p. 57:

"Nor, it must be remembered, was Andrews an intellectual in the true sense--something he freely admitted. He was attracted to the idea of science and the opening of hitherto unknown scientific horizons, but his interest in the deeper implications of his discoveries was often superficial. As Douglas Preston observed...most great explorers were "indifferent scientists." Andrews was no exception. He thrived on blazing pathways into unknown places, but he was usually content to leave the interpretation of whatever scientific bounty his journeys yielded to specialists equipped with the training and patience he lacked."

Significantly, Gallenkamp (p. 100) instead appraises the CAE's Chief Scientist Walter Granger as a "...large, self-effacing New Englander" who "...commanded tremendous respect as a scholar and technician" and whose "integrity, sound judgment and profound knowledge of paleontology made him ideally suited to oversee the scientific direction of the [Central Asiatic] expedition, leaving Andrews free to deal with its organization, diplomatic, logistical, and financial aspects, plus his duties as chief zoologist [ie., big game hunting]."

Not enough time is spent, it would seem, on Andrews' rather convoluted and destructive marital situation while he was in and out of Peking. Finally, Gallenkamp's primary bibliography is limited to Andrew's own publications and there are no citations or footnotes. Worse, the past mispelling of one of the CAE's great enabler, Franz A. Larson, is replicated, even though we all now know better. In sum, it would seem that the same old stuff simply got a little fresher look, but not the necessary re-look.

I must start by admitting that as a young boy, many a many a year ago, that I thrilled to Andrews' first hand accounts of his adventures. They were the sort of stuff a small boy in the midwest dreamed of. That being said, and having to admit that I am no longer that little boy (well, not much anyway), I had very mixed emotions about this book. I was a bit disappointed in the scholarship shown at times. Some of the writing was a bit flat, and viewing Andrews through the eyes of what I know now and did not know then, Andrews' image has been sort of tarnished for me.
I think you have to read this book with a good grounding and knowledge of the attitudes of most Americans/WASPS at that time, just as you have to view the Civil War and Pre Civil War through the attitudes of that time. No, it was not right, much of what we did was wrong and down right disgusting and it was not "correct" by todays standards, but it was what it was. History is history and I do not feel the author was condoning any of the questionable actions that Andrews made. Read this book for the fun of it and then read some of Andrews' actually writings and compair. Read it as an adventure story. Yes, their are better works out there on this subject, that is a fact, but this one is simply more "fun" than most of them. Recommend.

I thought that Dragon Hunter by Charles Gallenkamp was a terrific book. It is a biography on the life of Roy Chapman Andrews. This is a man that came from a fairly poor family and without much of a education other than what was offered by the state and became one of the most celebrated explorers of American history. The way that the book tells with such great details his life leading up to his adventures. Like when he went to Asia for the first time I felt like I was there with him. When the author described Mongolia as the most beautiful place on earth I wanted to go there a see it. I also thought that the way the author would go off the subject for a paragraph or page to tell of something else tha was happening in history that would help the reader to know what was going on in the area at that time in history. For example when the author writes about the Chinese, the Russians and the Mongolians fighting for Mongolia and some of each of the culture's histories. To sum it up, this is one of the finest biographies and general books that I have ever read and advise others to do so also.

This is a great rollercoaster ride of a book. As the saying goes, a novelist couldn't dream up the real adventures that Roy Chapman Andrews lived through. Right from the get-go, Andrews had incredible energy and before he was 30 he had accomplished more than most people do in a lifetime!

As a teenager, Andrews, using a book on taxidermy as a guide, taught himself to mount animals and birds. As the author explains, "He soon became so skilled that he acquired a license from the Wisconsin Conservation Department and started a part-time business mounting trophies for hunters, the proceeds from which paid for most of his college tuition." Andrews always knew what he wanted to do for a living and he went right after it... To quote Andrews, "Actually, I never had a choice of profession. I wanted to be an explorer and naturalist so passionately that anything else as a life work just never entered my mind."

After college, even though he had received a letter from the director of the American Museum of Natural History in New York stating that they had no job openings, Andrews went to New York anyway and showed up at the museum. With his combination of charm and determination he convinced the director to hire him. Andrews started off as an "assistant", basically doing janitorial services, but quickly worked his way up. Still only 23 years old, he was sent by the museum to salvage the remains of a North American right whale that had washed ashore in February 1907, at Amagansett on Long Island. The museum wanted the whale for its cetacean collection. In 20 below zero farenheit weather, Andrews and another museum employee, along with local fishermen, started to "excavate" the whale from the sand. After a couple of days of backbreaking work a severe winter storm struck the area and reburied the whale. Andrews and his co-worker had to start all over again, and it took them a further 10 days to accomplish their goal.

After that, Andrews was off to the races. The museum sent him out to shore-whaling stations in British Columbia and Alaska to gather anatomical data on whales. Andrews started to write papers on various topics. When he got back to New York he began attending Columbia University so that he could pursue a doctorate in zoology. In his anatomy studies he became quite adept at dissections. His instructor, a prominent surgeon, was so impressed with Andrews' skills that the instructor thought Andrews should pursue a career as a surgeon! Andrews also gave a lecture and slideshow and did so well that he got a standing ovation. He was invited to participate in a lecture program sponsored by the city's Department of Education. At this point, we are only up to 1908-1909 and Andrews was only 24-25 years old.

I hope this gives you some idea of how interesting and exciting Andrews' life story is. All the Central Asiatic Expeditions, with howling sandstorms, civil wars and vicious bandits are still to come!

This was easily one of the best books I've read in the past year. In what is always a great tribute to a wonderful story, I wish I could wipe my memory clean and start it all over again!

Although Charles Gallenkamp's writing doesn't attain the literary heights of a Ron Chernow or David McCullough, he does succeed in "Dragon Hunter", his biography of the legendary Roy Chapman Andrews, with a vivid recounting the explorer-scientist's life and career, focusing on the American Museum of Natural History's Mongolian expeditions of the 1920's, organized and led by Andrews. It is a compelling biography of how Andrews, then a recent college graduate, talked his way into employment at the American Museum of Natural History, organized and led the Mongolian expeditions starting fifteen years later, and finally, assumed directorship of the museum. Along the way we are treated with interesting vignettes on Anderews' political problems with Mongolian and Chinese officials while both countries were being torn apart by revolution and banditry. Those expecting ample details on the scientific research conducted by Andrews and his team and their implications should look elsewhere, most notably Michael Novacek's and Mark Norrell's (Dean of Science and respectively, chairman of the Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History) "Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs". Instead, Gallenkamp focuses on the human aspects of these expeditions, without devoting much time to the science. Judging from Gallenkamp's account of Roy Chapman Andrews' life, I am not surprised that Andrews is considered as a possible role model for the fictitious Indiana Jones.

Gallenkamp did a good job in bibliographic research, but please be careful when you read this book. Don't believe everything therein is true. I have noticed that there is a tremendous amount of inaccurate information included in text especially in accounts of Andrews' whaling trip to Japan (I am a native Japanese, so I know more about Japanese geography than him!) although most of the errors do not affect significantly the whole story of Andrews' life with a full of adventure.

Roy Chapman Andrews in the 1950s was one of my boyhood heros. I avidly read his books about exploration in the Gobi and China. But Andrews faded away into obscurity over the years. This book revives his memory.

For a reader unfamiliar with Andrews this book might be rated outstanding. For me, familiar with the outlines of his life, it was only good, not imparting enough new information. For example, a fascinating fact about Andrews is the animosity his colleagues at the American Museum of Natural History had for him. The best example of this animosity is that when Andrews died in 1960, the Museum did not even acknowledge the death of its most famous employee and former Director in any Museum publication. This snub to Andrews is somewhat akin to the TV networks failing to report the death of Walter Cronkite, when and if he passes into the hereafter. Why such hatred and spite toward Andrews, a personable, outgoing, charismatic leader? Who were those in the Museum who held a grudge against him and why? The author doesn't cover this topic adequately, leaving unanswered questions in my mind.

Thus, while this book is well worth reading, there remain facets of Andrew's life still closed and mysterious. But this book does a fine job of reviving recognition of Andrews who was famous in his day. He deserves the acclaim.