Snow Man: John Hornby in the Barren Lands

by Malcolm Waldron, Lawrence Millman (Illustrator)

Describes the year spent by Englishmen John Hornby and James Critchell-Bullock in the Barren Lands of Canada's Northwest Territories in 1924

Genres: Travel, Adventure

292 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997

Reviews

[Galowa · Rating 1 out of 5]

My objections to "Snow Man: John Hornby in the Barren Lands" are manifold. For starters, the bulk of the book is based directly (and almost exclusively) on the daily journal entries of and photographs taken by John Hornby's expedition partner Captain James Charles Critchell-Bullock, and Critchell-Bullock is not listed as co-author or, in my opinion, sufficiently credited for his contribution as sole expedition diarist, in providing source material for the book. This might be less troubling if other sources chronicling Hornby's life and exploits were cited, but there are none. This book is a straight ripoff of another man's (Critchell-Bullock's) efforts...

Critchell-Bullock personally financed the bulk of his and Hornby's joint expedition when Hornby pled poverty, another fact glossed over in the book. (It was revealed on Hornby's death however, that, in fact, Hornby was possessed of a considerable personal fortune.) In his diaries Critchell-Bullock chronicles not so much the story of Hornby himself, but the story of the developing relationship between the two men as they navigate their differences in the context of their shared hardships in The Barren Lands. In "Snow Man," however, Critchell-Bullock is cast out of the story completely once his expedition with Hornby ends. There is no further mention of Critchell-Bullock or what happens to him in his life despite the fact that his life does, in fact, go on. On the other hand, John Hornby, who, along with his two new expedition partners died of starvation on Hornby's subsequent underfunded expedition to The Barren Lands, (an outing which Critchell-Bullock declined to join) is lionized at the end of "Snow Man." Frankly, I suspect Hornby was borderline insane.

I'll be checking out "Letters from The Barren Lands – James Charles Critchell-Bullock" a 2020 book based on Critchell-Bullock's diaries and personal letters, also recounting the story of his experiences with Hornby - as told from Critchell-Bullock's perspective...