Searching for Franklin, Ken McGoogan
Searching for Franklin, Ken McGoogan
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Searching for Franklin
New Answers to the Great Arctic Mystery

Author: Ken McGoogan

Narrator: Bob Souer

Unabridged: 9 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/09/2024


Synopsis

Two of Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin's expeditions were monumental failures. Yet many still see the Royal Navy man as a heroic figure who sacrificed himself to discover the Northwest Passage.

This book interweaves two narratives. The first treats the Royal Navy's Arctic Overland Expedition of 1819, a harbinger-misadventure during which Franklin rejected the advice of Dene and Métis leaders and lost eleven of his twenty-one men. The second discovers a startling new answer to that greatest of Arctic mysteries: what was the root cause of the catastrophe that engulfed Franklin's last expedition?

The well-preserved wrecks of Erebus and Terror promise to yield more clues about what cost the lives of the expedition members, some of whom were reduced to cannibalism. Contemporary researchers continue to seek conclusive evidence both underwater and on land.

Drawing on his own research and Inuit oral accounts, McGoogan teases out many intriguing aspects of Franklin's expeditions, including the explorer's lethal hubris in ignoring the expert advice of the Dene leader Akaitcho. Franklin disappeared into the Arctic in 1845, yet people remain fascinated with his final doomed voyage: what happened?

About Ken McGoogan

Ken McGoogan is an award-winning and bestselling Canadian author who travels the world researching for his writing. He has published numerous fiction and non-fiction books, including several Arctic histories. His bestselling books include Dead Reckoning, Fatal Passage, 50 Canadians Who Changed the World, and Lady Franklin's Revenge. McGoogan has appeared in several documentaries to discuss Arctic exploration and is a fellow of the Explorers' Club and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. McGoogan was born in Montreal and now lives in Guelph, Ontario.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Molly

Such a fresh & brilliant take on the Franklin expedition. I am happy to see the labour of indigenous peoples in Franklin's "success" acknowledged for the first time. I don't want to give anything away but there is a lot of new information that I've not read before and I'm excited to read the rest of......more

Goodreads review by Paul

Sort of a social, cultural anthropological exploration of Franklin and his crew as they trek across northern Canada and interact with indigenous people and struggle to avoid starvation and freezing to death.......more

Goodreads review by Warren

A very solid overview of Franklin the explorer. I was surprised but ultimately pleased to read so much about Franklin's first overland expedition, which provides so much insight into his personality and how that probably contributed to the disaster of the 1845 expedition. This is a well researched p......more

Goodreads review by Devon

Ken McGoogan’s book explores Franklin’s expeditions (plural: both his first disastrous one in 1819 and his, er, last disastrous one we all know about from 1845) with a parallel exploration of his own in the present to find answers of what happened to those explorers of the past. He does what Frankli......more