John Rugge

Great Heart is well researched, it's neat someone found old diaries and retold the 1903 and 1905 Hubbard/Wallace/Elson expeditions in Labrador, mostly forgotten today but better known in the first half of the 20th century. I recommend this modern retelling but first read the original book that started it all, The Lure of the Labrador Wild (1905), which is the best introduction. In its day it was a best seller that went through 20-some printings, Teddy Roosevelt and Earnest Hemingway were fans. Great Heart has a reverent melancholy feel of history, Lure is more immediate and alive in the first person. The complex relationships between Mina Hubbard, her husband Leonidas, Dillon Wallace and George Elson the Indian half-breed is sort of like a Victorian episode of Survivor with shifting loyalties, betrayals, loves, enemies, friendships. It's an interesting story with human heart that goes beyond the typical exploration book.

--Review by Stephen Balbach, via CoolReading (c) 2011 cc-by-nd… (altro)