Climbing in North America

by Chris Jones

"This is an unusual book of quite exceptional interest and an outstanding contribution to mountaineering literature. It provides a refreshing change from the usual run - from somebody's latest account of what we all know thoroughly already, from the repetitive expedition stories (some of which could almost be produced by filling in the standard form), from continual gropings after motivations and from never ending collections of better and better pictures. Here now is a book that is different, a most welcome innovation. The history of North America climbing appears as a corporate entity for the first time. (…) This is a book that all serious students of mountaineering literature must read."
Edward Pyatt, "Alpine Journal" 1977, p. 260

"It is curious that this history of North American mountaineering was written not by an American but by a transplanted English-man. Perhaps that is just as well, for Chris Jones seems to be sufficiently assimilated into American society (at least the climbing element of it) to dig the scene thoroughly, while still cherishing a touch of the outsider who has not totally lost his sense of wonderment and perspective. My reading of this book was a good trip: it is informative and entertaining and I was left with a lingering feeling of having tasted the fruits of an impressive scholarly effort. Chris Jones has done his homework well; he has read much of what has been written in journals and books and has interviewed many of those still living who shaped American mountaineering. The book is remarkably comprehensive in the terrain and people it covers and is magnificently illustrated with entertaining, dramatic and historically interesting photographs well reproduced. "
Tom Hornbein, "Mountain" 1977, January-February, no. 53, p. 44

"Chris Jones has pulled off a rare feat among climbing histories. His treatment of the topic is truly exhaustive, yet he definitely avoids becoming exhausting. (…)
Despite the excellence of its detail, however, it is in its total sweep that Jones' story delivers its greatest impact. The interweaving of the climbing traditions from the various geographical centers is masterfully done."
Willi Unsoeld, "Ascent" 1975-1976, p. 122-123

"The mountaineering library will now not be complete without Climbing in North America, and as a link between more detailed local histories and more specific books on more specific climbs it is a good tool."
Bruce Colman, "American Alpine Journal" 1977, p. 294-296