THE DISHONORABLE DR. COOK Debunking the Notorious Mount McKinley Hoax

Bradford Washburn and Peter Cherici

ISBN 10: 0898868041 / ISBN 13: 9780898868043

Published by The Mountaineers Books, Seattle, WA, 2001

About this Item

Remainder mark on bottom edge, otherwise without flaw, Oblong 10 X 8.5" 200 pages, Weight Over 1 Kg, published 2001. The Dishonorable Dr. Cook (Frederick A.) is a fascinating study of a brilliant charlatan determined to cast himself as an American hero, and the publics longing to believe. Celebrated explorer and mountain photographer Bradford Washburn has been one of the principal investigators leading the case against Cook for more than fifty years. Washburn and co-author Peter Cherici draw together decades of investigative work exposing the falsehoods and inconsistencies in Cook's account. Illustrated throughout with vintage and modern photographs and fold-out map. **Bundle Up & Save On Postage**.

Seller Inventory # 43509

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE DISHONORABLE DR. COOK Debunking the Notorious Mount McKinley Hoax
• Publisher: The Mountaineers Books, Seattle, WA
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0898868041
• ISBN 13: 9780898868043
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Travel : USA
  • History
  • Sports

About this title

Synopsis

* Contains never-before-published and hard-to-find information
* Showcases eight breathtaking, previously unpublished photos by Bradford Washburn

For 50 years, celebrated mountaineer Bradford Washburn was obsessed with Frederick Cook's claim to have been the first to reach the summit of Mount McKinley in 1906. Washburn's conclusion: Cook was a fraud. At the very least Frederick Cook was a showman of outsized proportion. The Dishonorable Dr. Cook tells the story of the colorful Cook -- what sort of man he was, why he staked his reputation on a flimsy story, and why so many people have been anxious to debunk his claims. Other details of Cook's checkered career are also included, such as his role in Peary's unsuccessful expedition to the North Pole in 1892-1893, his own amazing circumnavigation of McKinley in 1903, and his determination to be the first to reach the North Pole. Cook's account of the 1906 McKinley ascent is described, followed by evidence against it.

Most compelling, however, are the side-by-side comparisons of Cook's original photos with Washburn's identical ones, taken decades later, from locations very different than Cook alleged. Washburn's name is all but synonymous with Mount McKinley, and his skill in recreating the photos is incomparable.