Into the Silence: the Great war, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest, Wade Davis, Knopft Publishing Group. 2011.

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One can almost smell the hubris and testerone when reading this book about the men who tried to conquor Everest in the 1920s.  Davis goes into great detail about the World War I experiences of the various members of the Everest explorations in the 1920s.  Included in the narrative is a short history of Britain’s influence in the political affairs of the Tibet, China, and the other countries sitting atop the Himalayas. 

Davis details how each of the three explorations were planned and executed.  The underlying reason seems to be that because Britain had not bee successful in the search for either of the Poles and no one had been lost in an effort to ascent to the top of the highest mountain, then it was up to Britain to conguor it.  Because of that, anyone who was not a true “Brit” was excluded from the first expedition even if the individual had experience in high altitude climbing.

Anyone who has read Into Thin Air  and books on Everest and Mallory will enjoy reading this extensively reseasrch book.

Reviewer: Dorothy Pittman