The Man Who Ate His Boots

The definition of insanity springs to mind when listening to Brandt's history of the search for the Northwest Passage. Time and time again British explorers set out to find a navigable route through northern Canada, spent a year or two stuck in the ice, then (at best) went home with more detailed maps but without success. Simon Vance gives an impeccable narration, as usual. It's nothing fancy, but his calm, dignified, and fittingly British tone is perfect for delivering this tale of unceasing optimism, folly, scurvy, race, and empire. The fate of Sir John Franklin is gripping--he ate his boots on his first expedition and disappeared, along with 129 men, on his third. (Bones in the kettle illustrate the depths of despair to which men were driven.) Vance conveys the poignancy of the ensuing searches for survivors. A.B. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine