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Hampton Sides

Biography

Hampton Sides

Hampton Sides is an award-winning editor of Outside and the author of the bestselling histories HELLHOUND ON HIS TRAIL, BLOOD AND THUNDER and GHOST SOLDIERS. He lives in New Mexico with his wife, Anne, and their three sons.

Hampton Sides

Books by Hampton Sides

by Hampton Sides - History, Nonfiction

On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment? Cook was renowned for his peerless seamanship, his humane leadership, and his dedication to science. Yet something was different on this last voyage. Cook became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline, and led his two vessels into danger time and again. Uncharacteristically, he ordered violent retaliation for perceived theft on the part of native peoples. This may have had something to do with his secret orders, which were to chart and claim lands before Britain’s imperial rivals could, and to discover the fabled Northwest Passage.

by Hampton Sides - History, Nonfiction

On October 15, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of UN troops in Korea, convinced President Harry Truman that the Communist forces of Kim Il-sung would be utterly defeated by Thanksgiving. The Chinese, he said with near certainty, would not intervene in the war. As he was speaking, 300,000 Red Chinese soldiers began secretly crossing the Manchurian border. Led by some 20,000 men of the First Marine Division, the Americans moved deep into the snowy mountains of North Korea, toward the trap Mao had set for the vainglorious MacArthur along the frozen shores of the Chosin Reservoir. What followed was one of the most heroic --- and harrowing --- operations in American military history, and one of the classic battles of all time.

by Hampton Sides - History, Nonfiction

On July 8, 1879, the USS Jeannette set sail from San Francisco to cheering crowds in the grip of "Arctic Fever." The ship sailed into uncharted seas, but soon was trapped in pack ice. Two years into the harrowing voyage, the hull was breached. Amid the rush of water and the shrieks of breaking wooden boards, the crew abandoned the ship. Thus began their long march across the endless ice --- a frozen hell in the most lonesome corner of the world --- as they desperately strove for survival.