- Hardcover: 298 pages
- Publisher: John Murray Publishers Ltd; First Edition edition (28 Sep 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0719556899
- ISBN-13: 978-0719556890
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.7 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
150,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #65 in Books > History > Europe > Enlightenment, Revolution & Empire 1751-1900
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Review
'A fascinating and well-researched history of the rise and fall of the English in the Alps' -- Daily Mail
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
As the British Empire spread accross the globe during the 19th century, another quieter conquest was going on much nearer to home: grdually the English were taking over the Alps. This text explores the story of the English love affair with the Alps, from its beginnings in the early Romantic movement, through the days of the 1850s and 1860s and the formation of the Alpine Club, to the inter-war years when the English assured the future prosperity of the alpine resorts by virtually inventing and then popularizing downhill-skiing.;Part history and part biography, the volume examines the artists, scientists, gentlemen-adventurers, invalids, and the aristocrats and eccentrics who all flocked to the Alps.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Anyone interested in the alpine regions or in the history of mountaineering will find this book a fascinating read. Jim Ring's account of the growth of tourism and of mountain climbing and winter sports in the Alps is thoroughly researched and well put together. It's packed with interesting excerpts from contemporary sources and covers a wide range of subjects related to the love affair of the British with the Alps, including the introduction of skiing to this part of Europe, the building of railways, the sanatoria and the tourism trade, and much more. Not forgetting, of course, the conquest of the peaks, which is covered in detail. Many of the key figures in the history of mountaineering, winter sports and alpine tourism are included, from Whymper and Mummery to Mallory; from Byron, Shelley and Turner to Thomas Cook and the Lunn family (of Lunn Poly fame); from Napoleon to Hitler and pre-war politics. I enjoyed Jim Ring's style of writing, which imparts masses of information without ever being dry or merely factual, and I was impressed by the breadth of his research. I'm also reading Killing Dragons by Fergus Fleming, and it's worth pointing out that although both authors take the same subject as their starting point, they approach it in different ways and with very distinct styles. I was going to choose one or the other, but their different focus means that they complement rather than compete, and I'm glad I bought both.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"How the English Made the Alps" pretty much achieves exactly what the title suggests. The book provides an excellent chronological account of how English visitors started by exploring and climbing in the Alps, and then went on through "health tourism" and the pursuit of winter sports to develop the region commercially.
Ring has clearly done pretty exhaustive research into the topic, particularly on the conquests of various mountain peaks. He conveys the initial scientific endeavour that spurred climbers on, and also manages to communicate the eccentricity of pursuing alpine "conquest" once the scientific rationale had disappeared.
Given the title, there is a strong Anglo-bias to the writing which perhaps underplays some of the contributions from other countries - foreign climbers are seen generally in the light of competitors and foils for English advances. Again, with the constraints of the title, there is little of the early history of the region in the volume. These are minor quibbles, however, in what is overall a very good account. It is a shame that Fleming's "Killing Dragons" was published so close to this - you wait years for a decent account of the development of the Alps, and then two come along at once. There is enough difference between the two, however, that readers will benefit from reading both.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an excellent and very readable history from the early 19th century to the mid 20th century of the English/British "colonisation" of the Alps and their contribution to mountaineering, tourism, skiing and the economy of the Alpine region.
It may irritate continental Europeans because it is very English centric but the impression is that the English (or should Jim Ring have used the word British?) were a huge force in the change that came about in the Alps in the 19th and 20th centuries, because they were the ones who had the money to spend.
For me the main faults are that it is mainly about mountaineering and that it does not follow through about the English contribution to such resorts such as Méribel and Val d'Isere, which owe an awful lot to the English gentlemen skier and would give the book a link to modern British visitors to the Alps who rarely, I think it would be true to say, climb the Matterhorn!
Any body who has an interest in the Alps should read this book.
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