"Winner of the J.I. Staley Prize" Sherry B. Ortner is Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University. She is the author of two previous books on the Sherpas of Nepal, Sherpas through Their Rituals and High Religion: A Cultural and Political History of Sherpa Buddhism (Princeton), and has also written books on social, cultural, and feminist theory. She has received numerous prestigious awards, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation...

"A cultural, geological, and ecological history of Mount Everest focusing on the indigenous Sherpa and their spiritual connection to the mountain, record-setting multinational climbing expeditions, and the effects of tourism on the environment. Illustrated with photographs, maps, diagrams, and timelines"--Provided by publisher.

"In the 1930s, as official government expeditions set their sights on conquering Mount Everest, a little-known World War I veteran named Maurice Wilson conceives his own crazy, beautiful plan: he will fly a plane from England to Everest, crash-land on its lower slopes, then become the first person to reach its summit--all utterly alone. Wilson doesn't know how to climb. He barely knows how to fly. But he has the right plane, the right equipment, and...

"A history of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's 1953 summit of Mt. Everest, detailing the challenges encountered, the individuals involved, the discoveries made, and how the expedition left its mark upon the world"--Provided by publisher.