Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic...

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 368 pages
• Published by: Penguin Non-Classics March 26, 2002
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0142000760
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0142000762
• Book Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Weighs: 14.4 ounces

Product Review
Roy Chapman Andrews was never much of a scholar, and anyone who looked at his high school report card might have foretold an undistinguished future. But, from an early age, Andrews's ambitions lay outside the social norm; an ardent fan of Robinson Crusoe and a devoted outdoorsman, Andrews wanted nothing more than to be an adventurer. He got his chance when he talked his way onto the staff of the American Museum of Natural History in 1906, under whose auspices, 15 years later, he was to mount the first of his central Asian expeditions. This decade-long program of exploration took Andrews and his team into the heart of the Gobi, one of the last uncharted regions on earth.

Convinced for ideological as much as scientific reasons that humans originated not in Africa but in Asia, Andrews spent much of his time in the field seeking evidence of early man. That search would prove fruitless, for, as biographer Charles Gallenkamp notes, "nary a scrap of genuinely ancient human bone was ever retrieved by the Central Asian Expeditions." What Andrews and his colleagues did find, however, has propelled dozens of scientific missions ever since: huge caches of dinosaur bones at places such as Mongolia's Flaming Cliffs. These fossils helped demonstrate geological connections between Asia and North America, and they added dozens of new species to the paleontological record.

All the while, Andrews contended with bandits, corrupt officials, invading armies, disease, and other dangers. After finishing Gallenkamp's vigorous book, readers will understand why Andrews should have served as the model for the movie character Indiana Jones--who, if anything, pales by comparison to the real thing. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Roy Chapman Andrews, the celebrated explorer who discovered the first velociraptor skeleton in the Gobi Desert, was also a shameless self-promoter. Gallenkamp (Maya: The Riddle and Rediscovery of a Lost Civilization), in association with the American Museum of Natural History, which sponsored Andrews's 1922-1930 Mongolia expeditions, delivers a fair but unambitious portrait of this inspired traveler. Henry Fairfield Osborn, Andrews's longtime friend and mentor, once wrote to him, "You alone of all the men I know have a full measure of optimism; everyone else tells me things that cannot be done." In his lifetime, Andrews's optimism led him to the remotest regions on the globe and into the fray of world events, from WWI and civil war in Central and eastern Asia to the religious controversy over evolution. Before Andrews abandoned the Gobi in 1932 because of mounting anti-imperialism by the Chinese, the desert yielded to him a wealth of fossils: the first-ever protoceratops, oviraptor as well as the velociraptor and the modern world's first glimpse of dinosaur eggs. Gallencamp relies heavily on Andrews's own sensational writings and some secondary sources, but little that would allow us to view Andrews other than through his own eyes. It is telling, though, how much of Andrews's story is taken up by his cultivation of celebrity at home and how little of it by science. For Andrews, science was a means to an end; it gave purpose to his wanderlust. As for what drove him, Gallenkamp does not probe too deeply behind his subject's own mythmaking, but that is not his goal. This is a page-turning adventure story, and as such, it's a good one.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions (Hardcover) Before the Jurassic Park boom, little boys all had an enthusiasm for dinosaurs, and much of that enthusiasm was fueled by an explorer who only now has his first full biography, _Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions_ (Viking) by Charles Gallenkamp. It is a great monument to a forgotten explorer and collector. Andrews began an autobiographical volume with a foreword that included the words, "I was born to be an explorer. There was never any decision to make. I couldn't do anything else and be happy." He had humble beginnings in Benoit, Wisconsin, but dreamed of exploring for the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He literally told the director there that if it were just a matter of mopping the museum floors, that was what he wanted to do. And he did it, eventually becoming the director of the museum. From floors he went to taxidermy, and then to field expeditions about whales, and then to his five huge famous expeditions into Mongolia from 1922 to 1930. Andrews had superb skills at planning and organizing his expeditions, but was he was a brilliant salesman, enlisting the financial aid of members of New York society. The descriptions of his expeditions make exciting reading, as sandstorms, snowstorms, and brigands all battered the cars, camels, and explorers. But he brought back dinosaur eggs, which caused a sensation, _Velociraptor_, and much more. _Dragon Hunter_ is a well researched and at times exciting telling of the adventures of an American original. Gallenkamp has usefully summarized the Mongolian regional politics as well as New York society of the time, and has made it clear just how the publicity-happy Andrews became a sensation in his day. His record had been sadly neglected by the museum, which is now making amends. The book ends with an epilogue to show how the finds that Andrews fought to get back to the museum have proved a foundation of much of modern paleontology. We have explorers of other types now, but we will not see explorations of this grandeur, size, and style again.