Professor of History Maurice Isserman published an article, "The Ethics of Mountaineering, Brought Low," in The Chronicle of Higher Education (May 5, 2006). The article explores the history of climbing Mount Everest. Isserman wrote: "What has made the story so popular? Himalayan mountaineering is an esoteric pursuit that nonetheless seems to speak to the aspirations and concerns of a vast reading public that will never set foot on a glacier. And Into Thin Air is a particularly compelling narrative of a tragedy propelled by faulty leadership, blind ambition, and, in some instances, reckless indifference to human suffering. The similarities to the world of the late 20th and early 21st centuries as it exists closer to sea level are not entirely coincidental, for the book works on two levels — as survival tale and as jeremiad. It is a Culture of Narcissism at high altitude. The British historian Arnold Toynbee once famously denounced the view that history is just 'one damn thing after another.' I'll add that the history of mountaineering is more than just 'one damn peak after another.' Mountaineers are products of their own eras; the way they climb, and the way they feel about climbing, can help map a larger cultural, political, and social terrain. Academic historians are just beginning to explore that territory."
