Impossible Missions & Expeditions

Why do people put themeselves in extreme positions, what do they do when they get there, and how do they get out? Four non-fiction works of 20th century adventures explore these questions as they consider the limits of human courage and endurance. Join us for discussions of the real-life exploits of professional risk-takers and amateur adventurers. Variously set in the Arctic Circle and Antarctica, in the fiery wilderness of Montana and the icy desolation of the Himalayas, these books are exhilarating and chastening at the same time as they remind us of the tenacity of the human spirit and the fragility of life itself.

Readings:

Endurance, Alfred Lansing

Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer

We Die Alone, David Howarth

Young Men and Fire, Norman Maclean