A Human History from Hannibal to Heidi and Beyond

by Stephen O’Shea

Published by Norton, 2017. Available in hardback, paperback, audio book and CD. 318 pages.

Reviewed by Elsbeth Robson

While we have not had many opportunities to travel to the mountains in 2020/21, the pleasures of armchair travel have not been limited by the pandemic. Lovers of the Alps in AAC(UK) will no doubt find this book an interesting read. The author is not a mountain sports practitioner, so the perspective he offers of the Alps is predominantly from the driver's seat of a car. Nonetheless, Stephen O’Shea has a fearsome respect for the mountains and describes some of the highest alpine peaks and famous ascents, though his driving route across the Alps takes him through the alpine passes and tunnels, rather than on foot or skis. His grasp of geology and human history as two great forces shaping the dramatic landscapes and diverse peoples of the Alps today is impressive.

The Alps: A Human History from Hannibal to Heidi and Beyond is really a travelogue of a summer spent traversing the Alps from France in the west to Slovenia in the east, via Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany criss- crossing between countries, languages and cuisines. O’Shea gives considerable attention to modern Austria – not just the cities of Innsbruck and Salzburg, towns like Lienz, Hallstatt and other pretty villages, but also the mountains and lakes of the Salzkammergut, the Dachstein mountains and of course Austria’s highest peak the Großglockner in the Hohe Tauern. He also explains the complex history and demise of the Austro-Hungarian empire which led to some inhabitants of the Süd Tirol (now in Italy) claiming themselves to be Austrian.

A curious feature of my copy (which I received as a Christmas gift) is that the pages are untrimmed – a bit of online research told me this is a deckle edge, a deliberate feature (not a defect) by the publishers. Personally I don’t really like it, but perhaps the author chose that so the edges of the book have a profile like a miniature jagged mountain range.

My further irritations with this book are several. Firstly, the maps at the start of each section are really poor and not really helpful to the reader. But to be fair it is not intended as a guidebook. Secondly, the author is a North American, drives an automatic car and is very rude about the Dutch tourists he encounters on alpine roads in camper vans. Thirdly, the numerous descriptions of hairpin bends and terrifying views from mountain roads, as the writer traverses yet another alpine pass get a bit repetitive.

Overall, I enjoyed this read and learned a lot by considering the Alps in their entirety. In conclusion I can agree with O’Shea that ‘The Alps cannot be encompassed, tamed, understood’ (p271). Plus, it was just nice in UK lockdown 3.0 to revisit in the mind places I’ve been in Austria and the Alps and to dream of future trips.

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