Into the Unknown: The Remarkable Life of Hans Kraus [Paperback]

Susan Schwartz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 13, 2005

A book of adventure and hope, vividly portraying one man’s successful quest for meaning. A life covering the grand panorama of the 20th century, filled with tragedy and triumph, intense passion, verve, and a whole lot of guts, glory and wit. Hans Kraus was a legendary rock climber, known for hair-raising ascents on two continents. Few realized he was the same man considered one of the great unsung medical pioneers of the 20th century, making headline news throughout the second half of the 1950’s, guest of honor at Eisenhower’s White House, cover story of major magazines throughout America, including Sports Illustrated.

His pioneering work in muscles and fitness uncovered a shocking truth about American children. And his work curing back pain brought him into the Kennedy White House and inner circle of Camelot. Here now is the life of Hans Kraus, including the never before told story of Kennedy’s back, based on new documentation, including Kennedy’s own White House back records and first time interviews with two Kennedy White House doctors. Kraus lived life so fully, so fearlessly, another famous climber said, “His cojones are so big he needs a bag to carry them in.” (author website: susanebschwartz.com)

“Anyone who was anyone went to Kraus.”—Mike Wallace

“Bravo! Schwartz does an excellent job portraying a life that Hollywood could have scripted.”—James M. Clash, Adventurer columnist, Forbes Magazine, and author of To The Limits

“I kept turning the pages. Schwartz is a born story teller.”
American Alpine Club, past President Jim McCarthy

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Susan E.B. Schwartz contributes to national adventure and sports magazines, including Outside, Climbing, Rock+Ice, and Runner’s World. An American Alpine Club Literary Committee member and former Board member, she is a rock climber, scuba instructor, shipwreck divemaster, and marathoner. A Harvard College graduate, she lives in Connecticut with her husband and children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (July 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595357520
• ISBN-13: 978-0595357529
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,125,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan E.B. Schwartz has been acclaimed as one of the leading adventure writers around. A long time feature writer for the leading climbing magazines, Climbing and Rock and Ice, Susan has also written for Outside, Runner's World, and Harvard Magazine, and been quoted and interviewed by The New York Times, Boston Globe, and many other leading publications. (One of Susan's video interviews for the New York Times ran on Jet Blue flights as part of in-air video service.)

Susan came to adventure in a non-traditional way: Growing up in the New York City area, Susan was a dedicated bookworm who competed in chess tournaments -- at one point, she was ranked the top girl in her age group in Westchester County and the number #2 girl in the metro New York area. Her concept of adventure was getting lost on a subway.

After winning academic scholarships to leading day and boarding schools, Susan entered Harvard as a sophomore and stumbled onto sports. Discovering only two women on the Harvard women's swim team were willing to compete in the 200 yard butterfly event (arguably swimming's most grueling race), Susan decided to learn to swim so that she could fill the third remaining slot and earn a varsity letter.

After Susan graduated-with honors along with her varsity sweater-she moved to Manhattan to start a corporate career in financial services consulting and discovered scuba diving. A veteran of several NYC marathons and a 100-mile ultra, Susan in her alternate universe life is a business consultant who writes about topical management and marketplace issues.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Get the real story, February 24, 2006

By 

FRANZ KRAUS - See all my reviews

This review is from: Into the Unknown: The Remarkable Life of Hans Kraus (Paperback)

I am Hans Kraus's brother. I am proud that Hans's life and accomplishments have been documented, but it is unfortunate that the task was undertaken by someone who valued dimestore psychoanalysis over facts.

Despite taking approximately ten years to prepare this book, and making many statements during that period that it was almost finished, Ms. Schwartz finally completed her book last summer and rushed to publication without giving me an opportunity to review her work and offer constructive criticism. Subsequently, receiving my comments, post-publication, she has disregarded
them.

Readers who are interested in a rundown of the inaccuracies, both intentional and inadvertent, please see http://users.rcn.com/peregrino/Kraus/

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Will Finish This Book The Day it Arrives in the Mail..., September 28, 2005

By 

Kapil K. Jain - See all my reviews

This review is from: Into the Unknown: The Remarkable Life of Hans Kraus (Paperback)

Honestly, I'm not much into the climbing scene, but was pleasantly surprised by this very approachable and colorful biography of Hans Kraus. The writer's smooth and bold style complements the adventures of the subject, and does a clever job at crafting this great American story into a great American biography.

I suspect 'Into the Unknown' will have a broad appeal and success with climbers and non-climbers alike.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Health Care Professionals, May 16, 2006

By 

James B. Dohn (Long Beach CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Into the Unknown: The Remarkable Life of Hans Kraus (Paperback)

Book: "Into the Unknown, The Remarkable Life of Hans Kraus" by Susan Schwartz
copyright 2005

This book is a must read for any bodyworker, physical therapist, orthopedic doctor or mountain climber. Dr. Hans Kraus was a pioneer mountain climber and pioneer bodyworker who is one of our most unknown and unsung twentieth century heroes. He rejected our commonly accepted treatments for musculoskelatal conditions of drugs and surgery for hands on bodywork and exercise. Time Magazine listed him as one of the prominent medical pioneers along with Dr. Salk of the polio vaccine and Edward Jenner of the smallpox vaccine. His contribution to health research was simple and easy. It was bodywork and exercise. He became the Back Doctor to President John Kennedy. When Janet Travell was promoting her trigger point theories she was giving Kennedy trigger point injections with procaine and lidocaine. Kennedy had had two failed back surgeries and this was kept secret. When Travell's treatment stopped working, Hans Kraus was called in. He began doing trigger point injections of saline solution only with big needles. Very similar to what we do with elbows and knuckles. Then he did bodywork, massage and began an exercise program. Kennedy said this was the most benefical program he had ever done. And Kraus had to sign a confidentiality agreement so the press did not find out how injured Kennedy was. The anecdotes in this book are remarkable and professionally notated. Hans noted that Kennedy's back pain got worse when he was home with his wife and mother. He seemed to be able to handle averting World War Three easier than dealing with his family. This is of interest to the Hellerworkers and others trained in dialogue.
Some of you may remember the Presidential Fitness Program of Kennedy's. This was inspired by Hans Kraus.
Hans Kraus also put together a series of 6 postural muscle tests that he claimed would predict back pain incidents. These simple exercises could be used as part of a physical exam in just the same way that we do blood tests to predict health conditions. If a person could not touch their toes or hold a sit up for 10 seconds then exercises were prescribed to correct this situation. Hans attempted to get these included in the public school system of New York. The resistance won out. I'll bet the insurance companies today would love to have access to this kind of testing and study. We (Hellerwork) could be the ones to promote this.
Hans also has some very good techinques for not immobilising, casting or splinting broken or sprained bones. He said and practiced that muscle work and movement was much more efficient to repairing broken bones and sprains.
The book is an easy read, fun and professionally annotated with a complete bibliography.
I got reinspired to our work (Hellerwork) and am looking forward to some current research projects we could in this area.
The book is available in soft or hard cover from Amazon.
Enjoy.

Dr. Jim Dohn