| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 96.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 96.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes. By Maurice Isserman and Stewart Weaver. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. xii, 579 pp. $39.95, ISBN 978-0-300-11501-7.)
The history of mountaineering has, with a few notable exceptions, been written either by climbers or by authors intrigued with the drama, adventure, and risk of the sport. In Fallen Giants Maurice Isserman and Stewart Weaver have written something rather different, a deeply researched and comprehensive treatment of mountaineering in the Himalaya that is an engaging narrative and an illuminating analysis of larger themes.	1
The authors recount many notable ascents. The earliest ones were undertaken by explorers, cartographers, and colonial military officials measuring the heights of the vast peaks strung along the border region of Pakistan, China, Nepal, and India. Later, in the early twentieth century, climbing became more of a sport, which generated international competition. The Britons George Mallory and Andrew Irvine attempted Mt. Everest in 1924 (they disappeared after being seen near the top), a German team mounted a courageous assault on Nanga Parbat in 1934 (ten died), and a British American team reached the summit of Nanda Devi in 1936. The authors chronicle as well the numerous failures and successes on Mt. Everest, with special attention given to the 1953 British expedition during which the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the top.	. . .

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