I have always been a fan of National Geographic. One of the very first things I did with part of my first paycheck, from my very first full-time job, was take out a subscription to the NG magazine, which I kept up for several years. The iconic yellow border was always, in my mind, a symbol of high quality photojournalism. And of course, it helped launch the career of Jane Goodall, one of my heroes, among many others.

I found this book to be a fascinating history of the Society and I learned so much that I never knew and never imagined, including some things I wish I hadn't known. I love that at the very beginning of the book, there is a family tree map that shows how the three families (Hubbard, Bell, and Grosvenor) came together to create this organization and how the direct line of this family-run, non-profit organization remained true for 5 generations, over 100 years .

I never knew that Alexander Graham Bell was even involved in the NGS, let alone a one-time president of it! I was somewhat shocked to find out just how close the ties were between the NGS and the government(s) of the early part of the twentieth century. "So many bylines from so many bureaucrats and military officials appeared in the magazine that it sometimes seemed like an extension of the government" . National Geographic cooperated and participated with the CIA and FBI, and supplied maps to the armed forces during both World Wars and several other wars, as well.

Worst of all, in my eyes, was the overt racism and bigotry that was evident in the early part of the 1900s among the top echelon of the NGS. Membership into the Society was restricted and denied to Blacks, there was blatant anti-Semitism and the elder Grosvenor was a Nazi sympathizer. There are even some passages quoting contributors to the magazine in those early days whose words ring in my ears today, and sound frighteningly like the current Washington administration. I find that terrifying.

This was a fascinating read, on many levels, even if it was not always a comfortable one.

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While I’ve heard the courtship story of Alec and Mabel in about a half-dozen other books already, I found the early history of the society and its foundation much more interesting than the recent details. Modern events still need to play out before we can call them history. Bell and the Grosvenor family’s stewardship of the organization show a genuine concern with helping to popularize science, exploration, and global understanding. And that can’t be a bad thing. All in all, a satisfying book.

http://lifelongdewey.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/910-explorers-house-by-robert-m-po... ( )

In 2001, Robert M. Poole retired as executive editor of National Geographic after a twenty-one-year career. It's fitting that Poole authored this detailed and critical history of the National Geographic Society http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ and its founding family. In 1888 inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell and blue-blood Bostonian, Gardiner Hubbard, co-founded the National Geographic Society http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geographic By Fall of he same year, they launched the first issue of the National Geographic magazine with articles on volcanism and botany. The Society organization grew, but the magazine stalled until Gilbert H. Grosvenor, a young schoolteacher, signed on as editor. The Grosvenor family and the magazine have been linked ever since. (lj) ( )

I've always found it interesting to see how the National Geographic magazine has changed over the years - the photography, article perspective and magazine layout - to what it is today. Without a doubt, Explorers House provided a fascinating peek into the lives of the people who were responsible for founding and making this magazine a national institution. I enjoyed reading about the Bell and Grosvenor families but even more, I truly liked reading the “behind the scene stories” of the explorations National Geographic sponsored and the assignment locations their staff journeyed off to. In particular, the Peary/Cook trek to the North Pole and Luis Marden's astounding find of the HMS Bounty remains. Wish there was a little more of this in the book. Maybe Poole has another book to write? ( )

What I like about this book is that the author deals forthrightly enough with the less charming aspects of the magazine's editorial policy, to the point that I didn't feel as if I was dealing with an "authorized history" and all the implications of airbrushing out the unsightly imperfections that phrase implies. On the downside, the focus on the individuals that have given the institution its character means that organizational points can get glossed over; some analysis about the circulation gap that has come to afflict the magazine, and what that says about the readership would have been nice. ( )