cover image Because It's There: The Life of George Mallory

Because It's There: The Life of George Mallory

Dudley Green, . . Tempus, $35 (192pp) ISBN 978-0-7524-3399-8

Much is made of the first ascent of Mount Everest by Edmund Hillary in 1953, but considerably less is known of British climber George Mallory (1886–1924), who ascended the rocky slope 30 years earlier only to disappear in the bitter cold and snow. This book, which claims to be the first about Mallory since the 1999 recovery of his body near Everest's summit, features a foreword by Mallory's son, John, as well as interviews, excerpts from other bios, and the private correspondence of family and friends. Green, an authority on the mountaineer, highlights new disclosures from Mallory's sheltered patrician British childhood, his yen for gymnastics and learning, his lust for rock climbing, his time at Charterhouse and Cambridge, his disillusionment as a WWI soldier and his restlessness to leave the schoolroom to scale the earth's craggy heights. The writing serves as a capable adhesive between the large segments of letter fragments and interviews, which transform this slight biography into something more than a glimpse of an adventurer challenging himself with ropes and pulleys over vertical slabs and overhangs. The volume connects the dots of myth and mystery surrounding Mallory in the muddle of previous biographies and highlights the man with more testimony from his intimates. Photos. (Jan. 1)