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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exploring Explorers House, February 20, 2005
This review is from: Explorers House: National Geographic and the World It Made (Hardcover)
They've nearly all died-Colliers, Look, Saturday Evening Post, Life, Holiday, and many other magazines--while National Geographic flourishes. The people who made this happen are the subject of Explorers House by Bob Poole Though circulation has dipped from a high near 11million, the Geographic still reaches around 7 million domestic subscribers, plus two million in foreign issues, and who knows how many others in dentists' offices. Former associate editor Poole examines more than a century of Geographic publishing, from a thin magazine nursed by Alexander Graham Bell and his son-in-law, Gilbert H. Grosvenor, to the present megamagazine whose offspring of TV and books and et ceteras are presided over by more than 50 well-compensasted vice-presidents. The heart of Poole's chronicle is the Grosvenor editorial dynasty--the orderly Gilbert, his brilliant son Melville, and Melville's methodical son Gil, now chairman of the board. The smoldering tiff between Gil and editor Bill Garrett, which ends in Garrett's sudden firing, reads like a thriller. Both men still speak to Poole, a testament to the tale's accuracy. So much for editors. Over the years staffers and contributors performed sacred, sometimes unique, Geographic feats: Robert Peary makes it to the North Pole, or was it just in the vicinity? Maynard Owen Williams explores Tutankhamen's tomb; Luis Marden dives off Pitcairn Island and discovers the remains of H.M.S. Bounty; Barry Bishop climbs Mt. Everest and loses toes to frostbite. Gilding no lilies, Poole documents Gilbert Grosvenor's racist attitude toward blacks, as well as his early sympathy for Hitler's Germany. Editor Poole is also a writers writer, a master of the telling detail, the nifty phrase, and the unexpected but apt word. His relentless pursuit of primary sources brings revelations that have surprised even long time Geographic staff members, myself included. A work to be praised, and savored.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Amazing Look Behind the Scenes..., January 25, 2006
This review is from: Explorers House: National Geographic and the World It Made (Hardcover)
Poole's Explorers House delves into the private, behind-the-scenes world of the National Geographic Society. The author, who retired as Executive Editor of the National Geographic magazine so he could write this unflinching biography, explores the formation of the NGS as a DC-based social club for government scientists, military men, inventors, and the all-important amateurs, and the connections and power of the Hubbard, Bell and Grosvenor families that controlled the organization for over a century (a family tree is included that helps decipher this sometimes confusing web of nepotism). Poole discusses the member/subscriber scheme that fueled the Society's early days (and they were the first magazine to include subscription cards in their pages), the funding of various expeditions, the emergence of NG as a photographic powerhouse, the stock market crash and its effect on the NGS, their expansion into books, globes, television, and other magazines, and their transformation into a giant corporate entity. He also gives a good look at Alexander Graham Bell, a remarkable and caring man who's vision truly lifted the NGS to greatness. Poole does not shy away from the NGS's black eyes, including the institutional - and sometimes blatant - racism that existed in one form or another, within the NGS until the 1970s, the Cook/Peary North Pole controversy, and the embarrassing pro-Hitler and Mussolini articles that appeared in NG in the late-1930s. This book is not, and does not claim to be, about the various adventures funded by the NGS. While some explorations are discussed, this tome is primarily about the men and women who made these adventures possible. In that aspect this book is unique. The adventures of the NGS are available in numerous other books and, of course, in the magazine itself. Understanding that I am a big supporter of the NGS and its mission, I really enjoyed this book. While it is a scholarly work (and to that end is heavily endnoted), it is still an excellent, well-flowing narrative that is at times astonishing, and always riveting. It has increased the enjoyment of my NG collection and I would recommend it to anyone with even the slightest interest in the workings of the NGS. If I were to find fault, I would have wanted more photos other than the one posted at each chapter head (to resolve this, just take a look at any NG anniversary issue, the photos will jump to life after reading Poole's account). There are some statistics that are needlessly repeated and I would have like to know what kind of competition existed between the Smithsonian magazine and NG (Smithsonian is only mentioned in passing), but these are just pebbles in an otherwise long, beautiful road.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
"THE INCREASE AND DIFFUSION OF GEOGRAPHIC KNOWLEDGE', May 24, 2006
EXPLORERS HOUSE; `NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC AND THE WORLD IT MADE' By Robert M. Poole I remember as a kid waiting for the newest issue of National Geographic Magazine to arrive with its distinctive yellow border and its images of impossibly remote and exotic places: not to mention the Barenaked Natives. Many years later, I had the unmitigated temerity to actually APPLY for a job at the National Geographic Society, and received an unctuous and snotty rejection. (One doesn't just "apply" to the Society for work; the Society seeks one out, like Skull and Bones or the CIA which,come to think of it, are one and the same.) It is that aloof and patrician attitude that Robert Poole explores in "Explorers House." From its inception, the Society existed in the rarified stratosphere of Society. After all, its motto is:" A Society for the Increase and Diffusion of Geographic Knowledge." That sounds like something Ben Jon son or Cotton Mather might have written. It sure isn't NASCAR. The insider's perspective of the National Geographic (Poole is the retired Executive Editor) reveals the insular, almost incestuous, relationship between Alexander Graham Bell, the Grosvenors, and the Hubbards, all of whom played major roles in the development of the Society. The subtitle of the book is revelatory:" National Geographic and the World it made." Like TIME magazine under Henry Luce's stewardship, the Geographic created the world in its own image. The Geographic created the myth of Robert Peary (who may or may not have reached the North Pole),and subsidized the research of the Leakey's in Africa. It pumped millions into research. And late in its development, the Magazine shifted gears (in the view of its conservative Trustees) and began to cover the issue of race in a feature article on Harlem, global warming, and the environment. In the end, in the words of its editors, the mission of the Geographic is " to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge." Geography is defined in a broad sense as the description of land, sea, and universe; the interrelationship of man with the flora and fauna of earth; and the historical, cultural, scientific, governmental and social backgrounds of society. As society changes, the: magazine slowly evolves its style,format and subject matter to reflect that change without altering those policies." And does it well.
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