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Annapurna: The First Conquest of an 8,000-Meter Peak (Lyons Press Ser.)
By Maurice Herzog. 1952
One of Sports Illustrated&’s Top 100 Sports Books of All Time: A gripping firsthand account of one of the most…
daring climbing expeditions in history. #1 New York Times Bestseller Annapurna I is the name given to the 8,100-meter mountain that ranks among the most forbidding in the Himalayan chain. Dangerous not just for its extreme height but for a long and treacherous approach, its summit proved unreachable until 1950, when a group of French mountaineers made a mad dash for its peak. They became the first men to accomplish the feat, doing so without oxygen tanks or any of the modern equipment that contemporary climbers use. The adventure nearly cost them their lives. Maurice Herzog dictated this firsthand account of the remarkable trek from a hospital bed as he recovered from injuries sustained during the climb. An instant bestseller, it remains one of the most famous mountaineering books of all time, and an enduring testament to the power of the human spirit.The Guga Hunters
By Donald S. Murray. 2018
This Scottish Highlands history celebrates the traditional Gaelic bird hunt undertaken each year on the island of Sula Sgeir north…
of the Outer Hebrides. Every year, ten men from Ness, at the northern tip of the Isle of Lewis, sail north-east for some forty miles to a remote rock called Sula Sgeir. Their mission is to catch and harvest the guga; the almost fully grown gannet chicks nesting on the two-hundred-foot-high cliffs that circle the tiny island, which is barely half a mile long. After spending a fortnight in the arduous conditions that often prevail there, they return home with around two thousand of the birds, pickled and salted and ready for the tables of Nessmen and women both at home and abroad.The Guga Hunters tells the story of the men who voyage to Sula Sgeir each year, capturing their way of life and the drama of their exploits. They speak of the laughter that seasons their time together on Sula Sgeir, as well as the dangers they have faced. Delving deep into the social history of Ness, local historian Donald S. Murray also reveals the hunt's connections to the traditions of other North Atlantic countries. Told in his district's poetry and prose, Murray shows how the spirit of a community is preserved in this truly unique tradition.West with the Night
By Beryl Markham. 1942
The classic memoir of Africa, aviation, and adventure—the inspiration for Paula McLain&’s Circling the Sun and &“a bloody wonderful book&”…
(Ernest Hemingway). Beryl Markham&’s life story is a true epic. Not only did she set records and break barriers as a pilot, she shattered societal expectations, threw herself into torrid love affairs, survived desperate crash landings—and chronicled everything. A contemporary of Karen Blixen (better known as Isak Dinesen, the author of Out of Africa), Markham left an enduring memoir that soars with astounding candor and shimmering insights. A rebel from a young age, the British-born Markham was raised in Kenya&’s unforgiving farmlands. She trained as a bush pilot at a time when most Africans had never seen a plane. In 1936, she accepted the ultimate challenge: to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean from east to west, a feat that fellow female aviator Amelia Earhart had completed in reverse just a few years before. Markham&’s successes and her failures—and her deep, lifelong love of the &“soul of Africa&”—are all told here with wrenching honesty and agile wit. Hailed as &“one of the greatest adventure books of all time&” by Newsweek and &“the sort of book that makes you think human beings can do anything&” by the New York Times, West with the Night remains a powerful testament to one of the iconic lives of the twentieth century.Drake: England's Greatest Seafarer
By Ernle Bradford. 1965
The authoritative biography of British explorer Sir Francis Drake, from the bestselling author of The Great Siege. Long considered…
one of the great heroes of British history, Sir Francis Drake was a brilliant navigator, intrepid explorer, and fearsome warrior in Queen Elizabeth&’s Royal Navy. He was also a pirate and profiteer who made a small fortune trading slaves. In this compelling biography, Ernle Brandford offers an unvarnished and finely detailed portrait of this complex and influential man. Born to impoverished parents in Devon, Drake rose to power by his own efforts. In his most famous expedition, he sailed around South America through the Strait of Magellan, opening new trade routes for Great Britain. Continuing across the Pacific and around the tip of Africa, he became the first Englishman to sail around the world. Drake also played a key role in the defeat of the Spanish Armada when England was threatened with invasion in 1588. Vastly outnumbered, he led raids into Spanish ports, destroying dozens of ships. But while tales of his exploits have been told for generations, few authors have approached the story of his life with as much depth, authority, and honesty as Bradford.A Steady Trade: A Boyhood at Sea
By Tristan Jones. 1982
A memoir of growing up in pre-World War II Wales and developing a love of sailing and adventure, by the…
author of The Incredible Voyage. Tristan Jones vividly and colorfully describes his childhood as a Welsh boy growing up by the sea. The story of his boyhood in pre-World War II England is strikingly charming and nostalgic. The challenges and adventures he encounters will have you seeing, smelling, feeling, hearing, and tasting the sea as you travel with him through this coming-of-age story.Conrad Kain: Letters from a Wandering Mountain Guide, 1906–1933 (Mountain Cairns)
By Zac Robinson. 2014
Examine the life of the pioneering guide in these 144 letters sharing his thoughts on immigrating to Canada, his passion…
for nature, his travels, and more.Conrad Kain is a titan amongst climbers in Canada and is well-known in mountaineering circles all over the world. His letters to Amelie Malek—a life-long friend—offer a candid view into the deepest thoughts of the Austrian mountain guide, and are a perfect complement to his autobiography, Where the Clouds Can Go. The 144 letters provide a unique and personal view of what it meant to immigrate to Canada in the early part of the twentieth century. Kain’s letters are ordered chronologically with annotations, keeping the sections in English untouched, while those in German have been carefully translated. Historians and mountain culture enthusiasts worldwide will appreciate Kain’s genius for description, his passion for nature, his opinions, and his musings about his life.“In a culture that enjoys as many romantic figures as there are mountain peaks on the horizon as viewed from a lofty summit, Conrad Kain holds a special place in the historical landscape of western Canada’s mountains. Robinson . . . makes no secret of his affection for Kain, and that's a good thing, because he handles the letters Kain wrote throughout his adult life while guiding in Canada and New Zealand to his dear friend in Austria, Amelie Malek, with the care and reverence they so richly deserve.” —Lynn Martel, Alpine Club of Canada Gazette“From his letters, it’s obvious that Kain loved climbing mountains for the physical challenge, to meet interesting people, to make a living, and for opportunities to travel around the world, but most especially because of his all-consuming love of the natural world.” — Cyndi M. Smith, The Canadian Field-Naturalist, Vol. 129, No. 1Seagulls in My Soup: Further Adventures Of A Wayward Sailor (Sheridan House Ser.)
By Tristan Jones. 1991
Join Tristan Jones as he tells tales of the humorous and fascinating adventures that his Saga of a Wayward Sailor…
began. Discover more anecdotes and unexpected adventures aboard a converted lifeboat ketch cruising the coasts of the Balearic region with Tristan, his one-eyed, three-legged dog, Nelson and the prim Bishop's sister, Sissie St. John. It's a prolific prose journey of surprising arrivals, machine gun-thwarting and ship-saving escapades of a wayward sailor and his motley crew.A Canterbury Pilgrimage: An Italian Pilgrimage (Wayfarer)
By Joseph Pennell, Elizabeth Robins Pennell. 2015
Journey across Europe aboard a tandem tricycle in these two Victorian-era travelogues that take readers to England and Italy.A peasant…
in peaked hat and blue shirt, with trousers rolled up high above his bare knees, crossed the road and silently examined the tricycle. “You have a good horse,” he then said; “it eats nothing.” —from An Italian PilgrimageThe 1880s was an exhilarating time for cycling pioneers like Elizabeth and her husband Joseph. As boneshakers and high-wheelers evolved into tandem tricycles and the safety bike, cycling grew from child’s play and extreme sport into a leisurely and, importantly, literary mode of transportation. The illustrated travel memoirs of “those Pennells” were—and still are—highly entertaining. They helped usher in the new age of leisure touring, while playfully hearkening back to famous literary journeys. In this new edition, Dave Buchanan provides rich cultural contexts surrounding the Pennells’ first two adventures. These long out-of-print travel memoirs will delight avid cyclists as well as scholars of travel literature, cycling history, women’s writing, Victorian literature, and illustration.“In the airy, self deprecating style of Robert Louis Stevenson, an American couple captured the imaginations of UK and US readers through the five illustrated cycle-travel books they created beginning in the 1880s. . . . Elizabeth and Joseph Pennell succeeded in bringing the leisure touring idea to the forefront through their jaunts aboard a tandem tricycle outfitted with luggage racks. . . . Cycling historian Dave Buchanan contributes an enlightening introduction which grounds the couple in the literary/art world of the late nineteenth century and gives a gearhead sense of bicycling history. But Elizabeth’s delightful prose steals the show.” —Foreword ReviewsScott of the Antarctic: The Legend 100 Years On
By Sue Blackhall. 2012
A fascinating biography of the British explorer whose legendary expedition to the South Pole was shrouded in controversy and tragedy.…
Captain Robert Falcon Scott CVO (6 June 1868-29 March 1912) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions. During the second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, only to find that they had been preceded by Roald Amundsen&’s Norwegian expedition. On their return journey, Scott and his four comrades all perished from a combination of exhaustion, starvation and extreme cold. Before his appointment to lead the Discovery Expedition, Scott had followed the conventional career of a naval officer in peacetime Victorian Britain. It was the chance for personal distinction that led Scott to apply for the Discovery command, rather than any predilection for polar exploration. However, having taken this step, his name became inseparably associated with the Antarctic, the field of work to which he remained committed during the final twelve years of his life. Following the news of his death, Scott became an iconic British hero, a status maintained and reflected today by the many permanent memorials erected across the nation. Sue Blackhall reassesses the causes of the disaster that ended his and his comrades&’ lives, and the extent of Scott&’s personal culpability. From a previously unassailable position, Scott has become a figure of controversy, with questions raised about his competence and character. However, more recent research has on the whole regarded Scott more positively, emphasizing his personal bravery and stoicism while acknowledging his errors, but ascribing his expedition&’s fate primarily to misfortune.Captain John Smith, Adventurer: Piracy, Pocahontas & Jamestown
By R. E. Pritchard. 2020
The swashbuckling life of the Elizabethan explorer and colonial governor is vividly recounted in this historical biography.Captain John Smith is…
best remembered for his association with Pocahontas, but this was only a small part of an extraordinary life filled with danger and adventure. As a soldier, he fought the Turks in Eastern Europe, where he beheaded three Turkish adversaries in duels. He was sold into slavery, then murdered his master to escape. He sailed under a pirate flag, was shipwrecked, and marched to the gallows to be hanged, only to be reprieved at the eleventh hour. All this before he was thirty years old.Smith was one of the founders of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America. He faced considerable danger from the Native Americans as well as from competing factions within the settlement itself. In the face of all this, Smith’s leadership saved the settlement from failure.Captain John Smith, Adventurer: Piracy, Pocahontas & Jamestown
By R. E. Pritchard. 2020
The swashbuckling life of the Elizabethan explorer and colonial governor is vividly recounted in this historical biography.Captain John Smith is…
best remembered for his association with Pocahontas, but this was only a small part of an extraordinary life filled with danger and adventure. As a soldier, he fought the Turks in Eastern Europe, where he beheaded three Turkish adversaries in duels. He was sold into slavery, then murdered his master to escape. He sailed under a pirate flag, was shipwrecked, and marched to the gallows to be hanged, only to be reprieved at the eleventh hour. All this before he was thirty years old.Smith was one of the founders of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America. He faced considerable danger from the Native Americans as well as from competing factions within the settlement itself. In the face of all this, Smith’s leadership saved the settlement from failure.The Forgotten Adventures of Richard Halliburton: A High Flying Life from Tennessee to Timbuktu
By R. Scott Williams. 2014
A biography of the charismatic world traveler whose daredevil exploits thrilled millions in the early twentieth century. Born in 1900,…
Richard Halliburton ran away from his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of nineteen to lead an extraordinary and dramatic life of adventure. Against the backdrop of the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, Halliburton&’s exploits around the globe made him an internationally known celebrity and the most famous travel writer of his time. From climbing Mount Olympus in Greece to swimming the Panama Canal and flying all the way to Timbuktu, Halliburton experienced and wrote about adventures that others never even believed possible. His youthful spirit and bohemian lifestyle won the hearts of millions, and this absorbing biography tells his story. &“He was Marco Polo and Indiana Jones wrapped up in one, with P.T. Barnum&’s flippancy and James Bond&’s bravado, capped off by F. Scott Fitzgerald&’s aristocratic good looks and manners.&” —Smithsonian &“A concise new biography [that] covers the life of a man of marvels.&” —Memphis MagazineThe Father of Glacier National Park: Discoveries and Explorations in His Own Words
By George Bird Grinell. 2020
The story of this glorious Montana landmark, told through the journals and letters of the man who fought to conserve…
it—maps and photos included. With his small group of explorers, George Bird Grinnell discovered and named forty geological features east of the Continental Divide and west of the Blackfeet Reservation. He also happened to be a prolific writer and record-keeper who diligently made time in camp for meticulous journal entries. As a result, he wrote a series of articles about his trips from 1885 to 1898 for publication in Forest and Stream. In 1891, he began advocating to protect the area as a national park—and led that charge for nearly two decades until successful. His discoveries, publications, and leadership led to the creation of Glacier National Park. In this book, his cousin Hugh Grinnell compiles first-person narratives from unpublished journal entries, personal correspondence, and dozens of articles to tell the early story of Glacier.Admiral Albert Hastings Markham: A Victorian Tale of Triumph, Tragedy & Exploration
By Frank Jastrzembski. 2019
The story of a 19th-century adventurer who battled pirates, hunted buffalo, sailed the Arctic, and was “one of the most…
arresting figures of his time” (The Globe).Few men have lived such an extraordinary life as Admiral Albert Hastings Markham. Besides dedicating five decades of his career to Britain’s Royal Navy, Markham was a voracious reader, prolific writer, keen naturalist, and daring explorer. He battled Chinese pirates during the Second Opium War and Taiping Rebellion; chased down Australian blackbirding ships in the South Pacific; trekked to within 400 miles of the North Pole; hunted buffalo and visited Indian reservations in the United States; observed a bloody war in South America; canoed Canada’s remote Hayes River; and explored the icy waters of Baffin Bay and the Arctic Ocean archipelago of Novaya Zemlya. At the time of his death in 1918, The Globe declared that Markham had been “one of the most arresting figures of his time.”While Markham’s life was filled with adventure, it was also marred by tragedy. Regrettably, Markham is best remembered for his role in the sinking of HMS Victoria in 1893. This one incident has tarnished his legacy until now. This book follows Markham through his adventures and misfortunes—and reassesses the life of this forgotten yet fascinating admiral.Sikunder Burnes: Master of the Great Game
By Craig Murray. 2016
A biography that &“restore[s] this remarkable young man to his rightful position as a leading figure in Scotland&’s contribution to…
our imperial history&” (The Scottish Review). This is an astonishing true tale of espionage, journeys in disguise, secret messages, double agents, assassinations and sexual intrigue. Alexander Burnes was one of the most accomplished spies Britain ever produced and the main antagonist of the Great Game as Britain strove with Russia for control of Central Asia and the routes to the Raj. There are many lessons for the present day in this tale of the folly of invading Afghanistan and Anglo-Russian tensions in the Caucasus. Murray&’s meticulous study has unearthed original manuscripts from Montrose to Mumbai to put together a detailed study of how British secret agents operated in India. The story of Burnes&’ life has a cast of extraordinary figures, including Queen Victoria, King William IV, Earl Grey, Benjamin Disraeli, Lola Montez, John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx. Among the unexpected discoveries are that Alexander and his brother James invented the myths about the Knights Templars and Scottish Freemasons which are the foundation of the Da Vinci Code; and that the most famous nineteenth-century scholar of Afghanistan was a double agent for Russia.&“An important re-evaluation of this most intriguing figure.&” —William Dalrymple, bestselling author of The Anarchy&“Murray&’s book is a terrific read. He has done full justice to the life of a remarkable British hero, without ignoring his faults.&” —Daily Mail &“A fascinating book . . . his research has been prodigious, both in libraries and on foot. He knows a huge amount about Burnes&’s life and work.&” —The ScotsmanHarpoon at a Venture
By Gavin Maxwell. 2013
In this memoir, the Scottish naturalist and author of Ring of Bright Water recounts his post-World War II life as…
a shark fisherman in the Hebrides. A shark fishery based on the tiny Hebridean island of Soay was the beginning of Gavin Maxwell&’s enduring love affair with the west coast of Scotland. This, his first book, tells the whole story—the challenge and drama of the shark hunt, the development of catching techniques and equipment, the men who worked with him, and some of the frustrations of starting a new enterprise in post-war Scotland. Every chapter is packed with action and anecdote. In each there are also beautifully observed descriptions of sky, sea and the individual islands of the Hebrides as well as their wildlife—from gannets, puffins, Manx shearwaters, and fulmars to seals, dolphins, and whales.Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando de Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms
By Charles Hudson. 2018
The 20th anniversary edition of the study that first revealed De Soto&’s path across the 16th century American South includes…
a forward by Robbie Ethridge Between 1539 and 1542, the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto led a small army on an expedition of almost four thousand miles across Southeastern America. De Soto&’s path had been one of history&’s most intriguing mysteries until the publication of Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun. Using a new route reconstruction, anthropologist Charles Hudson maps the story of the de Soto expedition, tying the route to a number of specific archaeological sites. De Soto&’s journey cut a bloody and indelible swath across both the landscape and native cultures in a quest for gold and glory. The desperate Spanish army followed the sunset from Florida to Texas before abandoning its mission. De Soto&’s one triumph was that he was the first European to explore the vast region that would be the American South. But in 1542, he died a broken man on the banks of the Mississippi River. In this classic text, Hudson masterfully chronicles both De Soto&’s expedition and the native societies he visited. The narrative unfolds against the exotic backdrop of a now extinct social and geographic landscape. A blending of archaeology, history, and historical geography, this is a monumental study of the sixteenth-century Southeast.Finding Daniel Boone: His Last Days in Missouri & the Strange Fate of His Remains (American Legends)
By Ted Franklin Belue. 2020
Follow the final days of an American frontier icon as a historian examines what happened to him after he died.Finding…
Daniel Boone is a unique tribute to America’s frontier hero and offers closure to the greatest of all his mysteries: where he was buried. Part biography, part historical travelogue, and eloquently narrated using fresh sources, rare forensic data, and new field interviews, this is more than just a search for a man’s bones. Fully re-creating Daniel’s lost world, noted historian and author Ted Franklin Belue journeys along the famous Pathfinder’s last trail, from Missouri and back to Kentucky, meeting a host of colorful characters. As little has been written about Boone’s western days, where he lived the longest, this work examines the legendary woodsman’s life as much as his death.“With vivid writing, and ample historic documentation, Ted Franklin Belue invites readers on an incredible journey that introduces them to a new slant on an old story about one of the greatest American frontier heroes. Belue tirelessly re-creates Boone’s lost world and follows his last trail in the year of his death’s bicentennial, teasing us with a provocative question: Where does Daniel Boone rest, in Missouri or Kentucky?” —KYForwardThe Life of Prince Henry of Portugal: Surnamed the Nabigator and its Results (Routledge Revivals)
By Richard Henry Major. 1868
Torrents As Yet Unknown: Daring Whitewater Ventures into the World's Great River Gorges
By Wickliffe W. Walker. 2023
A dramatic narrative tour of 10 of the world&’s most incredible whitewater adventures—spanning 5 continents and 40 years—guided by a…
legendary whitewater trailblazerThis fascinating history of daring whitewater explorers stands alongside classic works on mountaineering, outdoor survival, and extreme sportsPerfect for fans of Jon Krakauer&’s Into Thin Air and Candice Millard&’s River of the GodsIn 10 thrilling real-life adventure stories, pioneering whitewater explorer Wick Walker examines what lured a generation of incredibly daring pioneers into some of Earth&’s most wondrous yet forbidding river canyons:below Victoria Falls on the Zambezi, the Great Bend of the Tsangpo in Tibet, Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Yangtze, the flanks of Mount Everest, and more Loaded with great moments and personal stories, Wick details what these adventurers found there, and within themselves. The extraordinary characters, driven by different motives and visions, but united by their compulsion to seek the unknown and the pulse of free-flowing water, are as remarkable as the daunting geography and conditions they confront.Whitewater sport today stands side-by-side with mountaineering in participation and public attention, yet it has lagged in generating its own literature. Torrents As Yet Unknown will help fill that gap for readers interested in human drama played out against great natural challenges.Mountaineering history is deep and its literature rich, but whitewater adventurers approach and experience the same forbidding terrain from a different vantage, between the steep walls of their canyons and atop powerful torrents of cascading water.