Fatal Passage: The Story of John Rae, the Arctic Hero Time Forgot - Softcover

McGoogan, Ken

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786711566 ISBN 13: 9780786711567

Publisher: Basic Books, 2003

Synopsis

John Rae's accomplishments, surpassing all nineteenth-century Arctic explorers, were worthy of honors and international fame. No explorer even approached Rae's prolific record: 1,776 miles surveyed of uncharted territory; 6,555 miles hiked on snowshoes; and 6,700 miles navigated in small boats. Yet, he was denied fair recognition of his discoveries because he dared to utter the truth about the fate of Sir John Franklin and his crew, Rae's predecessors in the far north. Author Ken McGoogan vividly narrates the astonishing adventures of Rae, who found the last link to the Northwest Passage and uncovered the grisly truth about the cannibalism of Franklin and his crew. A bitter smear campaign by Franklin's supporters would deny Rae his knighthood and bury him in ignominy for over one hundred and fifty years. Ken McGoogan's passion to secure justice for a true North American hero in this revelatory book produces a completely original and compelling portrait that elevates Rae to his rightful place as one of history's greatest explorers.

About this title

About the Author:

KEN MCGOOGAN is the author of a dozen books, among them four bestsellers about Arctic exploration: Fatal Passage, Ancient Mariner, Lady Franklin’s Revenge and Race to the Polar Sea. Those works won the Pierre Berton Award, the Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize, the UBC Medal for Canadian Biography, the Canadian Authors Association Award for Canadian History, the Grant MacEwan Author’s Award, and the Christopher Award for “a work of artistic excellence.” Ken worked as a journalist for two decades, moving from the Toronto Star to the Montreal Star and the Calgary Herald, as books editor and columnist. He has served as chair of the Public Lending Right Commission and is a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the Explorers Club. He teaches narrative non-fiction at the University of Toronto and in the MFA program at the University of King’s College in Halifax. Every summer, he voyages in the Northwest Passage as a resource historian with Adventure Canada.

Review:

"Rae emerges from the shadows to take his place among the most intriguing of the 19th-century Arctic explorers. Delightful reading"

"Ken McGoogan's passionate and immaculately researched book...is a sort of Arctic whodunit."

"Rae...was hounded into obscurity, banished from the pantheon of approved Victorian Arctic explorers, and was the only important one not to be knighted."

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0786711566
• ISBN 13: 9780786711567
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 340