What is it about?
Examines the intellectual influences of Woodrow Wilson Sayre's mountaineering philosophy and the real world results of his illegal attempt to climb the north face of Mount Everest in 1962.
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Why is it important?
While Sayre is loathed by mountaineers and neglected by mountaineering historians, I argue that he was a product of his time and of America's intellectual heritage who was part of a set of factors that influenced contemporary adventure tourism. Sayre was also the first academic fired from a major university under the "publish or perish" policy that is common in today's higher education tenure climate.
Perspectives
Although I find Sayre's politics and attitudes distasteful, I am also amazed at his scholarly neglect. He strikes me as an interesting and (minor) important figure in mountaineering and American history who is worthy of further study: there are still some questions about him that remain unanswered.
Dr Christopher M. Sutch
Marshalltown Community College
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: American on Everest: Individualism, the American Intellectual Tradition, and the Dream of Woodrow Wilson Sayre, Journal of Historical Sociology, September 2013, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/johs.12039.
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