Killing Dragons: The Conquest of the Alps [Paperback]

Fergus Fleming (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 2002

In a riveting narrative of daredevils and eccentrics, Fergus Fleming gives us the breathtaking story of some of history's greatest explorers as they conquer the soaring peaks of the Alps. Fleming recounts the incredible exploits of the men whose centuries-old fear of the mountain range turned quickly to curiosity, then to obsession, as they explored Europe's frozen wilderness. In the late eighteenth century French and Swiss scientists became interested in the Alps as a research destination, but in the 1850s the focus changed: the icy mountains now offered an all-out competition for British climbers who wanted to conquer ever higher and more impossible heights, and explorers fought each other on the peaks and in the press, entertaining a vast public smitten with their bravery, delighted by their personal animosities, and horrified by the disasters that befell them. "...excellent popular history, with its proper share of mad dogs and Englishmen....Fleming's rendition is dramatic and masterful." -- Anthony Brandt, National Geographic Adventure

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In antiquity, travelers did not enter the Alps gladly. One Roman noted that "everything in the mountains is frozen solid," while St. Ambrose, after seeing his first glacier, feared that the world would end by being suffocated in ice; heeding them, voyagers took the long way around whenever they could.

All that changed in the 1800s, writes Fergus Fleming in this highly entertaining chronicle, when travelers under the spell of Enlightenment philosophers and Romantic poets came to the Alps looking for a hint of heaven on earth. Those who, for many reasons, wanted to get a little closer to the deity attempted the first recreational climbs of the mountains. They were an odd lot, indeed. One was Albert Smith, who burdened his porters with wheels of cheese and casks of wine, made his way up Mont Blanc, had a feast, and turned his adventures into a stage play that wowed London audiences throughout the 1850s. Another was the natural scientist John Tyndall, who regarded the Alps as the devil's work but nonetheless raced against his compatriot Edward Whymper to climb the Matterhorn. Still another was William Coolidge, an American-born Oxford don who made Whymper's already unhappy life just a little less pleasant.

Fleming writes winningly of their "conquest" of the mountains--which, of course, has not kept succeeding generations from attempting new routes up the Alps with every climbing season. Mountaineering buffs and armchair travelers alike will enjoy his account. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Showing a remarkable ability to mix well-researched history with engaging depictions of the people who made it, Fleming (Barrow's Boys) chronicles the many frigid explorations that brought much of the world its first scientific knowledge of Europe's highest peaks. Fleming remains true to the qualities that made his first book, a study of England's frenzied 19th-century global exploration, so enjoyable. He not only supplies an abundance of information but also punctuates his facts with wit and illustrative stories. Beginning with the first Alpine forays in the early 1700s and continuing through later explorations up until World War II, Fleming outlines the prominent figures who braved the mountains' austere climate in the name of science and, more often, the spirit of vanity. The title refers to the entrenched belief that the Alps' upper reaches were inhabited by a dangerous menagerie of fairy-tale brutes. It was a sentiment that died hard. With characteristic wit, he describes a German physics professor who reconnoitered in the mountains in the 18th century and "set at rest a question that had haunted people for a long time. Yes, the Alps did contain dragons." The landscape's ethereal nature surely inspired the imagination, but eventually explorers became more concerned with bettering their knowledge and, among later English climbing rivals, besting each other. The characters Fleming discusses range from Rousseau to the Romantic poets, from genuine innovators to the "Indefatigable Bourrit," who was defeated by the elements on nearly every climb he attempted. Agent, Clarie Alexander at Gillon Aitken Associates. (Jan.) Forecast: Fleming's second book should get same enthusiastic critical reception as his first. Though the mountaineering history niche is increasingly crowded, Fleming's work stands out for its deft combination of humor, fact and Technicolor description, so strong reviews and good word of mouth should propel sales.
Copyright 2000 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: 416 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (March 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802138675
• ISBN-13: 978-0802138675
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #887,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost entirely Mount Blanc & the Matterhorn, March 28, 2003

By 

Martian Bachelor (Feminacentric America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killing Dragons: The Conquest of the Alps (Hardcover)

It was hard to decide whether to give this book four stars or five. The book isn't anywhere near to being a complete history of the conquest of the alps (con), but what is here is extremely well-written and interesting stuff which I could barely put down (pro) even though it's a pretty hefty 360 pages in all.

The first half of the book (176 pgs) is devoted to Mount Blanc, starting in prehistory, working up to its first ascent in 1786, and then continuing on up til the mid-nineteenth century. More than just the climbs themselves enters into the story. Fleming is as much concerned with the philosophical and cultural meaning of the exploits as with the exploits themselves. So he tries to give us a feel for their context in the wider scheme of things and what the people were like who were doing these things. The amount and variety of material which Fleming has researched and brought into the mix is what makes the reading so fascinating. There's everything from what the mountain villages were like to the scientific debate over why glaciers move.

Most of the second half of the book concerns itself with the eventual first ascent of the Matterhorn (1865) and the events surrounding it in the decade before. If Mount Blanc was all about ice, the Matterhorn is obviously all about rock. The author's obviously British perspective weighs heavily in here, which is where we get the most info on first ascents other than the two principals -- esp. if they were done by Whymper as warm-ups for the big prize.

Only the last twenty pages or so is devoted to the "modern" (post-Mummery) era, and the concentration so far as the detail is concerned is on the Eiger North Face.

So even if the coverage is much more limited than I would have preferred, Fleming is such an accomplished story-teller that I could recommend this to climbers and non-mountaineers alike.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid history of Alpine exploration, July 15, 2001

By 

"maguzza" (eastern United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killing Dragons: The Conquest of the Alps (Hardcover)

"Killing Dragons" is a history of the exploration of the French, Swiss, and Italian Alps from the early 18th century to 1938, when the "last problem of the Alps", the Eiger Nordwand, was finally "solved." The first half of the book discusses the early French and Swiss scientists and adventurers who explored the slopes of Mont Blanc and studied the glaciers of the Bernese Oberland. The 19th century belonged to the eccentric British explorers and scientists and an American expatriate, William Coolidge, who were driven to the mountains by a variety of forces. The end of the British domination of Alpine exploration came when almost all of the peaks had been conquered by their most straightforward routes, leaving only the more technically challenging direttissima routes, north faces, and other novel paths. These climbs required technical innovations (such as the use of pitons and carabineers) and a new more gymnastic approach and attitudes that the British and the French considered to be unsporting. This left the great technical climbs in the Alps to the Austrians, Germans, and Italians, and hence it is fitting that the book ends with a description of two Bavarians' and two Austrians' conquest of the Nordward.

Parts of the book, particularly in the first half, although competently-written and useful from an informational perspective, are quite dry and not particularly gripping. Later sections on John Tyndall and Edward Whymper are significantly better and Fleming's description of the personalities and feuds involved are actually quite interesting. I enjoyed the biographical information about Whymper, which fleshes him out as an individual. For more details about Whymper's exploits, I would highly recommend his book "Scrambles Amongst the Alps."

There were a few worrisome factual and editing errors early on in the book, such as when the mountain Pilatus is repeatedly placed above Geneva. This is a strange error as the general map included with the book correctly puts the mountain near Lucerne. A few detailed maps would have been a most welcome addition.

Overall, this is a smoothly-written and useful historical overview of Alpine exploration written very much from a British perspective and one that I would recommend to anybody who has a special interest in the area or the history of mountaineering. (A prior knowledge of the area by the reader will also help compensate for the lack of detailed maps.)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Both informative and fascinating, May 18, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killing Dragons: The Conquest of the Alps (Hardcover)

In Killing Dragons: The Conquest Of The Alps, Fergus Fleming recounts the incredible exploits of the men who explored Europe's most famous and dangerous mountain range. French and Swiss scientists tackled the peaks in the late 18th century seeking to learn more about the atmosphere, earth's origins, and glaciers. By the 1850s this scientific pursuit had evolved into a fierce competition between British climbers. The climbers became celebrities seeking to climb ever higher and more impossible mountains -- while trading quips and barbs and in public press. Stories of the climbers valor, rivalries, egos, and disasters become the substance of popular interest. Highly recommended reading that is both informative and fascinating, Killing Dragons tells how the great Alpine mountains fell to these colorful, eccentric climbers and is a "must" for anyone who has ever contemplated the adventure and sport of mountaineering.