Fleming, Fergus. Killing dragons; the conquest of the Alps.

Grove Press, dist. by Publishers Group West. 398p. illus, bibliog, notes, index, c2000.08021-3867-5. $14.00. SA *

This breezy, even gossipy account of two centuries of alpine adventure is a good introduction to the vast literature on the topic. Fleming gives highlights of the first ascents, disastrous falls, spirited rivalries, and, finally, philosophic controversies. Along the way he quotes extensively from climbers' journals and the classic published accounts of their exploits. The book could have been subtitled The British Conquest of the Alps, for except for the French, who first stood on Mont Blanc, the highest but not the most difficult peak in the Alps, the British dominate the story. The names in this book are a role call of foolhardy bravery and tenacity: Paccard and Balmat on Mont Blanc (1786); Saussure, Agassiz, and Forbes' investigation of glacial mechanics; Wills, who ushered in the "Golden Age" of British alpinism, atop the Wetterhorn (1854); Tyndall and Whymper's rivalry over the Matterhorn (1865); and finally, decades later, the epitome of 20th-century mountaineering, the five-day climb straight up the hellish Eigerwand by Germans laden with hardware and patriotism (1938).

By that time the British had moved on to the Himalayas and people had begun to question where bravery and daring end and psychopathology begins. In the early 20th century the Alps were no longer known for terrifying wildness and romantic sublimity but had become a center for TB sanatoriums and resorts for winter sports. The "conquest" of the Alps has taken many forms.

Killing Dragons, so named because of the monsters once thought to have lived in the mountain reaches, has several illustrations and is excellently indexed, but one wishes the editors had included an annotated chronology to help keep the many minor characters straight. They might also have added a better map and some diagrams of the famous mountaineering routes. Nevertheless, this is a fascinating book.

Michael P Healy, English Teacher, Wood River H.S., Hailey, ID