GET LIT: Win a copy of Anthony Brandt's The Man Who Ate His Boots

Knopf, 396 pp., $28.95, March 2 Today our Book Quarterly Trivia Week comes to a close, and we're going out with a bit of hard-core history. We're giving away a copy of Anthony Brandt's The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage. Here's an excerpt of Tom Tiballi's review, which ran in Thursday's paper: The Man Who Ate His Boots follows three main trends, and one harsh reality, of the British pursuit for a shortcut to Asia through the chilly waters north of Canada: the search for a quick and profitable circumspection of Spanish Central and South America in the 17th and 18th centuries; the tacit realization that ice would keep the passage closed to viable commercial traffic; the incorporation of the search into British national character following their defeat of Napoleon in the early 18th century; and finally, people getting trapped and eating other people. Peppered into these thematic bases are lengthy explanations of the politics, people and logistics involved in the main push north between 1818 and 1850. While these give invaluable insight, they are slow interludes between the much more harrowing adventures of John Ross, Edward Parry and the man with the boot in his mouth, John Franklin. To win a copy, answer this trivia question:

options

GET LIT: Win a copy of Anthony Brandt's The Man Who Ate His Boots

POSTED: Wednesday, April 7, 2010, 5:45 PM

Filed Under: Arts Books

Knopf, 396 pp., $28.95, March 2

Today our Book Quarterly Trivia Week comes to a close, and we're going out with a bit of hard-core history. We're giving away a copy of Anthony Brandt's The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage. Here's an excerpt of Tom Tiballi's review, which ran in Thursday's paper:

The Man Who Ate His Boots follows three main trends, and one harsh reality, of the British pursuit for a shortcut to Asia through the chilly waters north of Canada: the search for a quick and profitable circumspection of Spanish Central and South America in the 17th and 18th centuries; the tacit realization that ice would keep the passage closed to viable commercial traffic; the incorporation of the search into British national character following their defeat of Napoleon in the early 18th century; and finally, people getting trapped and eating other people. Peppered into these thematic bases are lengthy explanations of the politics, people and logistics involved in the main push north between 1818 and 1850. While these give invaluable insight, they are slow interludes between the much more harrowing adventures of John Ross, Edward Parry and the man with the boot in his mouth, John Franklin.

To win a copy, answer this trivia question:

In what year was explorer John Franklin knighted?

E-mail your answers to carolyn.huckabay@citypaper.net for a chance to win. Thanks for playing!

Posted by Carolyn Huckabay @ 5:45 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Comments (0)

Behind the scenes of local film A Man Full of Trouble
What we're trying to do this weekend
CONCERT REVIEW: The Postal Service @ The Mann 6/17
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Sunny, Tony and the return of Do No Harm
NOW SEE THIS: Salinger film trailer
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Indian fare rules, Dunder Mifflin lives on, Tom Jones is a god
REVIEW: Archer Live! @ the TLA 1/11
CONCERT PHOTOS: The National/Dirty Projectors @ The Mann Center 6/7
CITY PAPER WRITING CONTEST 2013: Send stories! Send poetry!
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Pink. Diner en Blanc 2. Breaking Glass and Milkboy at the movies. And so on.

About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

Follow Critical Mass editors Patrick Rapa and Emily Guendelsberger on Twitter:

@mission2denmark | @emilygee

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

June
May
April

March
February
January

Past Archives: