Another brilliant talk from the FESTIVAL OF IDEAS Autumn Season at the Watershed, Bristol. Tonight Wade Davis spoke about his new book Into the Silence, the result of a long period of research into George Mallory, the man who disappeared not far from Everest’s peak in 1924. Mallory’s effort to reach Everest’s peak began as a grand imperial gesture and ended as a mission of regeneration for a country and a people bled white by the First World War.
“The First World War, the worst calamity humanity has ever inflicted on itself, still reverberates in our lives. In its immediate aftermath, a few young men who had fought in it went looking for a healing challenge, and found it far from the Western Front. In recreating their astonishing adventure, Wade Davis has given us an elegant meditation on the courage to carry on.”
—George F. Will
