In the tradition of The Lost City of Z and Skeletons in the Zahara; Astoria is the thrilling; true-adventure tale of the 1810 Astor Expedition; an epic; now forgotten; three-year journey to forge an American empire on the Pacific Coast. Peter Stark offers a harrowing saga in which a band of explorers battled nature; starvation; and madness to establish the first American settlement in the Pacific Northwest and opened up what would become the Oregon trail; permanently altering the nation's landscape and its global standing.Six years after Lewis and Clark's began their journey to the Pacific Northwest; two of the Eastern establishment's leading figures; John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson; turned their sights to founding a colony akin to Jamestown on the West Coast and transforming the nation into a Pacific trading power. Author and correspondent for Outside magazine Peter Stark recreates this pivotal moment in American history for the first time for modern readers; drawing on original source material to tell the amazing true story of the Astor Expedition.Unfolding over the course of three years; from 1810 to 1813; Astoria is a tale of high adventure and incredible hardship in the wilderness and at sea. Of the more than one hundred-forty members of the two advance parties that reached the West Coast—one crossing the Rockies; the other rounding Cape Horn—nearly half perished by violence. Others went mad. Within one year; the expedition successfully established Fort Astoria; a trading post on the Columbia River. Though the colony would be short-lived; it opened provincial American eyes to the potential of the Western coast and its founders helped blaze the Oregon Trail.
#267669 in Books Zuckoff Mitchell 2014-04-29 2014-04-29Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.00 x 1.04 x 5.31l; .76 #File Name: 0062133403393 pagesFrozen in Time An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Leave no one behind-ever.By RoadhouseIt is a bedrock American principle that there is a high duty to locate and "return" the remains of lost service personnel. No matter how remote in place and time; the search cannot end except in success. From whence comes this deep-seated ethos not examined here. Rather; the principle is taken as a given and propels the telling of the extraordinary events events of heroism to rescue downed crews (struggling to survive against seemingly insurmountable perils) in WWII Greenland. The amazing infrastructure that exists to fulfill the duty to locate and return remains world-wide and the people who have devoted their lives to the mission is a story worth telling. The 50 plus year Greenland search is beautifully told and the travails of the crews involved documented with great care. It is a story of honor; courage and determination and one very much worth reading.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. And you thought the winter of '14--'15 was bad!By JimmyPThis (true) story is centered on the ice sheet that covers Greenland; which is not only extremely cold; but also very; very snowy. As a result; the ice sheet is several thousand feet thick; and even objects as large as an airplane are covered in only a few years. During WWII; a small Coast Guard recon.airplane was lost; and then a bomber sent out to look for it also crashed. The second was ultimately found; and the survivors rescued; but the first remained a mystery. The book is about how a modern explorer mounts an expedition to find it; and finally (on the last day of the field campaign) does so. It touches on the problems of getting funding for a project that essentially bypassed part of the Coast Guard bureaucracy; and on the problems of working in a hostile; dangerous environment: in particular; the expedition had to avoid crevasses that opened due to the relatively rapid deformation of the ice by the motion of the glacier; and then were hidden under fragile snow drifts. This book will be perfect summer reading while one is sitting on a shaded porch with a tall glass of iced tea close st hand.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Two for one: true stories of human endurance; bravery; tenacity and heroismBy Paige EllenThis book is actually two stories told side by side. It is a compelling account of human endurance and perseverance; during 1942; and again in 2012. It is an amazing tale of a plane lost over Greenland in 1942; the crash of a B-17 during the search for it and the search for and recovery of some would-be rescuers who were lost in the ice and snow as part of the ground search in the days following the original crash.Some of the members of the 2012 search team had been part of finding one of a squadron of P-38s lost over Greenland during the war. This is a story of courage; of faith and of honor. The stories told by those who survived and were rescued tell of extraordinary endurance and will; both on the part of the survivors and those looking for them; some of whom lost their lives during that search.The story of the searchers and their mission in 2012 shows just how far our technology has come; and how limited it still is in the face of the treacherous and unpredictable weather that makes up modern Greenland. Again; bravery and tenacity hold the modern day searchers to their task; despite the odds being against them.It's not a spoiler to say that they do eventually find the plane for which they were searching; but it recounts the ingenuity they needed to make their search and their high-tech tools work for them.This book is as compelling as any adventure novel and has the added touch of it being a true story and the superior writing skills of Mitchell Zuckoff.Very highly recommended.
