Life and Death on Mt. Everest

Description

Published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2000 (This edition published for the Asian market – 1st Edition was by Princeton University Press in 1999), D/w, Fine.   “For more than a century, climbers from around the world have journeyed to test themselves on Everest’s treacherous slopes, enlisting the expert aid of the Sherpas who live in the area. Drawing on years of field research in the Himalayas, renowned anthropologist Sherry Ortner presents a compelling account of the evolving relationship between the mountaineers and the Sherpas, a relationship of mutual dependence and cultural conflict played out in an environment of mortal risk.”  Ortner explores this relationship through accounts of expeditions, from nineteenth century forays, into the twentieth century, through Hillary and Tenzing to the tragedy of the 1996 season on Everest described in Into Thin Air, and thereby creates a powerful and dramatic portrayal of a century of cultural encounters in one of the world’s most breathtaking regions.