Exploration, escape and survival books

[Lucky Jim]

These true-life accounts are on my bookshelf, it's good to read how people manage in tough situations..

[tfish]

Wagons West and 1812 catch my eye.

Lots of lessons can be learned from books like this.

[Lucky Jim]

Wagons West and 1812 catch my eye.
Lots of lessons can be learned from books like this.

Yeah, the true story of wagon trains is nothing like the glamorous Hollywood version..
People starved, died of thirst, cold, disease and Indian attack because they were mostly just ordinary people and city folk with no survival skills or shooting/hunting skills..

Napoleon's 1812 retreat from Moscow in the terrible winter was a killer; the troops froze and starved to death in their thousands, and more would have died if they hadn't eaten the cavalry's horses.
The irony is that they spent 6 weeks in Moscow through the autumn and could have bought or looted warm winter boots and thick clothing in preparation for the retreat, but instead they loaded themselves down with useless booty like silverware, ornaments, fancy furniture, artwork etc to sell back in France. Very bad prepping!
They realized their mistake too late and dumped the booty all along the sides of the road on the retreat because they hardly had the strength to carry it.

[Reservior]

Yeah, the true story of wagon trains is nothing like the glamorous Hollywood version..
People starved, died of thirst, cold, disease and Indian attack because they were mostly just ordinary people and city folk with no survival skills or shooting/hunting skills..

If you like that kind of thing, I read a book some years ago, albeit a work of fiction. There's a love story in there but it is also very brutal in places and worth a read for both men and women. The writing style takes a bit of getting used to, it's written in the first hand and its written in exactly the same way that a person of her standing, in that era, would speak.

Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/These-My-Words- ... 015&sr=1-1

[Lucky Jim]

If you like that kind of thing, I read a book some years ago, albeit a work of fiction. There's a love story in there but it is also very brutal in places and worth a read for both men and women. The writing style takes a bit of getting used to, it's written in the first hand and its written in exactly the same way that a person of her standing, in that era, would speak.
Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/These-My-Words- ... 015&sr=1-1

Thanks, the Amazon blurb looks interesting-"when the family sets out on the wagon trail and disasters strike in rapid succession, Sarah turns out to be the only thing that keeps them from certain death"
Women can be just as tough as men, and on many occasions tougher, I think that's because they've got it built into ther DNA to fiercely protect their children.

[Arzosah]

I noticed the first book in your listing is by Giles Milton - he's great, I love his work, I'll definitely look out for that one.

And as for the thing about the Napoleonic war - one of my ancestors was a sergeant in the Peninsular War (just like Harper in the Sharpe stories!) and his wife and children - all girls - trekked through it all with him. My own ancestor was born in France in 1818, because he was still there, in the Army of Occupation, which can't have been a barrel of laughs either. Though nor were the Liverpool slums in the 1820s, which is where he demobbed to.

[Lucky Jim]

...the Liverpool slums in the 1820s, which is where he demobbed to.

Yes I suppose a lot of blokes joined up to escape the big city slums in the first place.
Army life meant you at least got a couple of square meals a day, and if you were lucky you'd go through your whole army career without ever having to fight a battle.
However some soldiers relished a good fight, adventure and travel; for example Wnston Churchill wrote in his memoirs as a young cadet around 1900 that he hoped the Zulus would "put up another show" so he could get stuck into them..

[Lucky Jim]

I noticed the first book in your listing is by Giles Milton - he's great, I love his work..

Yes his 'Big Chief Elizabeth' is a classic as it describes the struggle of the first English colonists to survive in America.
Amazingly even though it was a green fertile land, the colonists were often near starvation, and they had to trade or beg food from local Indian tribes.
That's another thing that comes across strongly in all the books, local tribes everywhere had been happily surviving for thousands of years whether they were Indians, Eskimos, jungle tribes, aborigines, arabs or whatever because they were true 'Born Survivors', yet "civilised" men who entered those territories often starved because they didn't know how to live off the land!

[Arzosah]

...the Liverpool slums in the 1820s, which is where he demobbed to.

Yes I suppose a lot of blokes joined up to escape the big city slums in the first place.

Sorry - I meant, like Harper in the Sharpe stories because he was Irish! No point going back to Ireland then, I guess, even though he *did* marry legally (I have the regimental marriage certificate). He was a cobbler by trade, and went to what we guess was a family connection. Not for nothing is Liverpool known as East Dublin!

Actually, his experience might be relevant prepping wise - the regimental historian said that as he had a skill when he joined up, he probably had to carry around a load of leather and the tools of his trade, so as to mend the company's boots. He was demoted to corporal at one stage, and the historian said that that was probably because he'd been selling the leather to make a bit on the side Cobbling would be a good skill to have, prep-wise.

[jean405]

..... Cobbling would be a good skill to have, prep-wise.

completely off topic (sorry)

Prescott and McKay have shoe making courses in London. Jean