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By the author of the New York Times bestselling Everest Mountain Without Mercy this chronicle of the iconic first American expedition to Mt Everest in May ndash published to coincide with the climbs th anniversaryshy ndash combines riveting adventure a perceptive analysis of its dark and terrifying historical context and revelations about a secret mission that followed In the midst of the Cold War against the backdrop of the Bay of Pigs fiasco the space race with the Soviet Union and the quagmire of the Vietnam War a band of iconoclastic independent-minded American mountaineers set off for Mt Everest aiming to restore Americas confidence and optimism Their objective is to reach the summit while conducting scientific research but which route will they take Might the Chinese in a public relations coup have reached the top ahead of them And what about another American team led by the grandson of a President that nearly bagged the peak in a bootleg attempt a year earlierThe Vast Unknown is on one level a harrowing character-driven account of the climb itself and its legendary team of alternately inspiring troubled and tragic climbers who suffered injuries a near mutiny and death on the mountain It is also an examination of the profound sway the expedition had over the American consciousness and sense of identity during a time when the country was floundering And it is an investigation of the expeditions little-known outcome the selection of a team to plant a CIA surveillance device on the Himalayan peak of Nanda Devi to spy into China where Defense Intelligence learned that nuclear missile testing was underway.