Great Heart: The History of a Labrador Adventure (Kodansha Globe) (Paperback)

by James West Davidson (Author), John Rugge (Author) "IT WAS JUST GETTING light finally, early light before the sun come up..." (more)
Key Phrases: caribou grounds, long portage, tracking line, Grand Lake, Northwest River, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
In 1903 Leonidas Hubbard set out to cross the Ungava-Labrador Peninsula, and to forge a name for himself as an adventure writer. He took a friend, a guide, a canoe, a ton of equipment, and scads of naive hope. Months later, the friend and guide staggered out of the snow, and Hubbard starved to death in his tent, too weak to attempt the 30-mile trek to safety. And that's just Part I. James West Davidson and John Rugge narrate with simple dignity, making vividly tangible the wretchedness of mosquitoes, the panic of no food, and the rocky tangle of the Labrador wilderness.

From Library Journal
This book recounts the intertwined fates of three expeditions to Labrador at the turn of the century. In 1903 Leonidas Hubbard, Dillon Wallace, and George Easton mounted an overland trek that was eventually defeated by weather, terrain, and poor preparation. Hubbard perished. Seeking to vindicate her husband, Minna Hubbard set out to replicate the failed journey with the help of Easton, even as Wallace planned a similar attempt. The authors reconstruct the stories of the first expedition and its vying successors from the participants' journals and diaries, and use some fictional devices. An unusual tale based on historical fact, this should enjoy a wide audience. Jerry Maioli, Western Lib. Network, Olympia, Wash.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha Globe (December 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568361688
• ISBN-13: 978-1568361680
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #569,454 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authentic & compelling., November 30, 1999

By A Customer

Using Leon and Mina Hubbard's diaries, as well as those of their guides, Dillon Wallace and George Elson (great character!), Davidson and Rugge reconstruct the extraordinary story of a woman's search for the truth behind her husband's death in 1903. They flesh out the facts, give form to the unspoken fears and desires hidden between lines of desperate journal entries, and then skillfully breathe life into the tragic events. A powerful docunovel in a class all its own. Don't miss it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Adventure Story Ever, July 7, 1998

By	K. Unger (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Why don't more people know about this book? It puts most adventure stories to shame and makes most survivors of "hardships" look like wimps. Adventurers with virtually no prior experience, wearing wool sweaters and cotton pants, carrying tons of food, canoe and portage through uncharted waters only to get hopelessly lost. Between the bugs, cold, lack of food, etc... you wonder how any could survive. The concepts of leadership, friendship and conquest are tested. After a harrowing adventure ending in death, the widow of the expedition leader races a team member into the wilds of Labrador the following year. In 1905, it was hard enough for a man to make this unprecedented trip, and unheard of for a woman to try. It is a must read for all adventure lovers!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A First Rate Wilderness Adventure with a Twist!, October 31, 2000

By	Neil S. Calman MD (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a fabulous narrative of a wilderness adventure, like many others filled with the hazards adventurers encounter when they stray far from home. What makes the story unique is not a side-bar intrigue of romance and mystery but a deep underlying question about human motivation, relationships and dreams - as lived through the minds and bodies of the adventurous. The story is told with skill and grace - and is spellbinding.