The Man Who Ate His Boots

The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage

By: Anthony Brandt

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

The enthralling and often harrowing history of the adventurers who searched for the Northwest Passage, the holy grail of 19th-century British exploration.

After the triumphant end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the British took it upon themselves to complete something they had been trying to do since the 16th century: Find the fabled Northwest Passage, a shortcut to the Orient via a sea route over Northern Canada. For the next 35 years the British Admiralty sent out expedition after expedition to probe the ice-bound waters of the Canadian Arctic in search of a route, and then, after 1845, to find Sir John Franklin, the Royal Navy hero who led the last of these Admiralty expeditions and vanished into the maze of channels, sounds, and icy seas with two ships and 128 officers and men. In The Man Who Ate His Boots, Anthony Brandt tells the whole story of the search for the Northwest Passage, from its beginnings early in the age of exploration through its development into a British national obsession to the final sordid, terrible descent into scurvy, starvation, and cannibalism. Sir John Franklin is the focus of the book but it covers all the major expeditions and a number of fascinating characters, including Franklin’s extraordinary wife, Lady Jane, in vivid detail. The Man Who Ate His Boots is a rich and engaging work of narrative history that captures the glory and the folly of this ultimately tragic enterprise.

©2010 Anthony Brandt (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

“Tony Brandt is a superb and profound writer who leads us through a tale of such hardship you feel as if you've been aboard ship with them. It’s no small feat to use a bit of history to illuminate the future, but Brandt pulls it off. This is narrative history at its absolute gripping best.” (Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm)

“Heroism tinged with scandal, high adventure beset by unbearable suffering...A sterling examination of a national obsession that tracks the finds as well as the futilities of more than 60 years of harrowing Arctic exploration.” ( Kirkus Reviews)

Awesome book!

This book is an incredibly detailed account of Franklin's life and work and the Arctic. It also provides excellent history of exploration in that region prior to his work as well as that of many other important explorers of the same period including Parry, John Ross, James Ross, Rae, Richardson, McClintock McClure and many others. The collections of first and secondhand accounts from the men on these expeditions captured my interest for the entirety of the book. Thanks!

Incredible story

This book is so amazing. I don’t often listen to a book twice, but this one deserved to get a second listen. The narrator was excellent. The story was so gripping - I am constantly amazed at the number of men who willingly put themselves at risk for the adventure and glory of polar exploration. I have to admit that more than once I felt a distinct urge to put John Barrow on a ship in the middle of an ice floe locked in for a winter or two. I Googled a map of the northern Canadian archipelago to follow the story better. I listened on my phone and propped up my iPad with the map as I was listening. I then actually bought a copy of the book and listened again. The actual book has some maps that are really helpful. I’m sorry the audio version didn’t include a pdf with all the pictures and maps from the book as that makes all the difference. Also, this book was published before the Erebus and Terror were actually found, so I watched a few videos about that after I read the book too. Overall, this was an amazing tale of adventure, courage, pride and tragedy. I would recommend 100%. Just get yourself a good map to follow along with!

Starts off slow.

probably the first quarter of the book is a very general description of the English navy of the late 1700's. it describes very many journeys in no great detail, to include when the "man ate his own boots". as the book moves on it gains focus and the stories go into more detail.
its overall not as good as Shackleton's book Endurance, but not many books can be that good.

Recalls History with a Modernist Perspective

Overall, this was a fantastic book with plenty of fascinating material. Although there is much to do with the history of the British Navy, it is understandable as both the British Navy and polar exploration are heavily intertwined.

My only complaint is that the author looks back on history like a millennial, and I'm not speaking of the many references to global warming. There is an undeniable contempt for the ignorance and now foolish thinking of the many explorers of that time. Although their logic was completely flawed by today's standards, it must be remembered that those individuals did not have Google Maps to aid them in their travels. They did not have modern day theories and knowledge about nature and the earth. Were their theories of a Great Northern Passage crazy? Absolutely! Yet, very little was understood even about the oceans at that time. So, those men took a chance to make discoveries that helped create foundations for what we now know about the polar regions of the globe. - A very minor complaint when compared to the excellence of the rest of the book.

excellent!

If you like books about polar expeditions like the Endurance, this is perfection. Simon Vance as always is wonderful

They don't get any better than this

This book is amazing. This is the best audiobook I have ever owned, out of roughly 200. I have listened to it 20 times because there is so much there. Listen to it while looking at a map of Northern Canada.

good book, fantastic narrator

This book is good, but what really sells it is the fantastic narrator. Yes it was written before the wrecks of the Erebus and Terror were located, but that does not really subtract from the work. Definitely one of the best books on polar exploration - I especially appreciated the broad sweep and that it did not focus on Franklin only, but provided great context. This was sooo good!

Enjoyed the historical arc

I enjoyed the clarity of the timeline and order of what he revealed. Lots of details and it helped to have my google earth open to understand the position of the islands-straits-etc… if only the book was written a year or so later he could have concluded with the actual finding of the Erebus.

Good, but not great

Having just finished Kingdom of Ice, I was on an arctic exploration kick, so I got this one. It was a good enough book, and the narrator did a great job. It was just hard to follow much of it due to not being able to see the maps they were talking about. I think a hard copy would be better for this one because you could see the islands, straights, and other areas being explored.

Great book!

If you’re at all interested in arctic exploration of the period, this is a fantastic book. Simon Vance is good as always enjoyed thoroughly.