Browse by Author

Thomas Gaskell Allen

Across Asia on a Bicycle: The Journey of Two American Students from Constantinople to Peking in 1890 By Thomas Gaskell Allen Allen and Sachtleben graduated from Washington University in June 1890, sailed to Liverpool, and began a 15,000 mile bicycle journey to Peking. They had conceived of the idea during their senior year as "a practical finish to a theoretical education" in liberal arts. Their account really begins in Asia Minor as they cycle on through Persia and Turkestan, with detours to Merv, Bokhara and Samarkand. They peddled across the vast tract of the Gobi Desert to Peking, where they were received by Li-Hung-Chang, the Prime Minister of China. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-253-3 Pages: 180 $16.95

---

Myrta Lockett Avary

A Virginia Girl in the Civil War: Being a Record of the Actual Experiences of the Wife of a Confederate Officer By Myrta Lockett Avary This narrative gives a rare glimpse inside the mind of the wife of a former Confederate officer and shows with a simple sincerity what life was like for many Southern women during the human tragedy of the Civil War. The author tells of her many travels across the war-torn South, her capture behind enemy lines, her encounter with the famous Belle Boyd, her friendship with the dashing General J.E.B. Stuart, and the devastation suffered by the citizens of Richmond in the last days of the Confederacy. This is a real "Gone with the Wind." Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-252-5 Pages: 232 $16.95

---

Samuel W. Baker

Ismailia: The Expedition for the Suppression of the Slave Trade By Samuel W. Baker In 1869, Ismail Pasha, the ruler of Egypt, appointed British explorer Sir Samuel White Baker as governor general of Sudan, which was then governed by Egypt. Ismail wanted Baker to defeat the slave trade and open routes for commerce, and he gave him life and death authority to make it so. This is Baker's narrative of his campaign against the slavers. In the tradition of Stanley, Livingstone and Burton, Baker weaves a powerful tale, all the more incredible because he lived it. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-194-4 Pages: 446 $29.95

---

The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile: And Explorations of Nile Sources By Samuel W. Baker In 1860, British explorer Samuel White Baker travelled to Africa with his Hungarian-born second wife. The Royal Geographical Society had asked him to search for presumably lost fellow explorers Speke and Grant. They were not lost at all, however, and Baker continued on and discovered what he thought was the source of the Nile, Lake Albert. Baker was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society and a knighthood, and left us a remarkable adventure story. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-195-2 Pages: 372 $26.95

---

The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia: And the Sword Hunters of the Hamran Arabs By Samuel W. Baker Sir Samuel Baker writes in his introduction, "This being a concise summary of the Nile system, I shall describe twelve months' exploration, during which I examined every individual river that is tributary to the Nile from Abyssinia." But how can you resist a book that includes such chapter sub-headings as "Save me from my Friends" or "Pest Spots of the World"? Baker learned Arabic, took his wife with him and set off into the unknown. Opinionated, witty, and a great hunter; in short the very model of a proper British Explorer of the 19th century. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-076-X Pages: 300 $25.95

---

The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon: Stories from the Field, 1845 to 1853 By Samuel W. Baker Sir Samuel White Baker had a passion for exploration and big game hunting. This is his first book, and it takes us on a series of hunts in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from 1845 to 1853. It gives us an insight into the character of the "Great White Hunters," as well as a lot of good technical detail on guns, loads, and hunting techniques in the mid-19th century -- and plenty of action. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-196-0 Pages: 192 $14.95

---

Henry Walter Bates

The Naturalist on the River Amazons: The Search for Evolution By Henry Walter Bates Bates spent 11 years from 1848 to 1859 in the lower Amazon basin, collecting 14,712 specimens -- 14,000 of them insects, at least 8,000 of those new to science. This is an exploration, not just of the jungle, but of scientific theory: Bates was an early believer in Darwin's new (and hotly debated) theory of natural selection, and he was searching for proof. Did he find it? Charles Darwin himself wrote the introduction. A classic natural history adventure. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-197-9 Pages: 368 $24.95

---

Estelline Bennett

Old Deadwood Days: The Real Wild West of My Childhood By Estelline Bennett Deadwood in the late 1800's was a rowdy mining town where fortunes were made overnight (and guarded with a Winchester). Local characters like Cold Deck Johnny, Slippery Sam, and Swill Barrel Jimmy rubbed elbows with the infamous Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickock. Preacher Smith, a "sky pilot without a compass" tried to keep everyone's souls in order while the author's father, Judge Bennett, upheld the law. The author grew up along with the town, and saw it change from a miner's camp to a real town when the railroad came. Full of real wild west exploits and notorious personages. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-078-6 Pages: 192 $16.95

---

Nathaniel Holmes Bishop

Four Months in a Sneak Box: Down the Mississippi in 1875 By Nathaniel Holmes Bishop A 2,600 mile voyage in 1875 from Pittsburgh to Florida down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in a 12 foot duck hunting boat called a Barnegat Bay Sneak Box. "This curious and staunch little craft, though only twelve feet in length, proved a most comfortable and serviceable home while the author rowed in it more than 2600 miles down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, until he reached the goal of his voyage--the mouth of the wild Suwanee River." Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-224-X Pages: 232 $17.95

---

The Pampas and Andes: A Thousand Miles' Walk Across South America By Nathaniel H. Bishop Bishop was a mere lad of 17 in 1855 when, with 45 in his pocket, he left Massachusetts bound for South America. Pursuing a love of natural history, he arrived in Buenos Ayres, ascended the Plata and Parana Rivers, walked across the pampas and the Saline Desert, hiked over the Andres into Chile, and at Valparaiso caught a boat for home. Barely able to speak the language, he slips quietly through South America, eyes open. The ultimate boy's adventure. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-242-8 Pages: 240 $15.95

---

The Voyage of the Paper Canoe: A 2,000-Mile Journey Down the Inland Waterways of the Eastern Seaboard By Nathaniel Holmes Bishop Nathaniel Bishop left Quebec in the summer of 1874 in an 18-foot canoe, accompanied by an assistant. His plan was to follow natural and manmade waterways all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, making as few portages as possible. Nearly 400 miles into the journey, he discovered a company in New York state that had been perfecting the construction of paper boats. Dismissing his assistant, Bishop purchased one of these incredibly light and sturdy paper crafts and paddled the next 2,000 miles on his own, emerging off the Florida coast in 1875. This is the story of his incredible journey. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-110-3 Pages: 168 $17.95

---

William Bligh

The Mutiny on Board H.M.S. Bounty: The Captain's Account of the Mutiny and His 3,600 Mile Voyage in an Open Boat By William Bligh William Bligh's account of the fatal voyage of the Bounty, and his subsequent 3,600 mile trip to Timor in an open boat. Bligh was not the tyrant of legend in fiction -- in fact, he may have been one of the most lenient commanders of a Pacific exploration ship of that period. Certainly, he was one of the most competent seamen in the British Navy. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-228-2 Pages: 172 $14.95

---

Benjamin Bonneville

The Adventures of Captain Bonneville: Digested from His Journals by Washington Irving By Benjamin Bonneville Captain Benjamin L. E. Bonneville left the east for California in May of 1832. No one heard from him, and many people assumed he was dead (or AWOL). Three years later he returned. Washington Irving (Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle) met Bonneville, bought the rights to his journal, edited it, and published it. He knew a good story when he read it. This is probably the most literate, readable description of the fur trapper era. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-004-2 Pages: 264 $23.95

---

Sidney Spencer Broomfield

Kachalola: The Early Life and Adventures of Sidney Spencer Broomfield By Sidney Spencer Broomfield Broomfield was an entrepreneur among explorers: he was an Ivory hunter and prospector in East Africa in 1868-1869; a specimen collector and pearl fisher in Southeast Asia and Dutch East Indies in 1874-1875, and a mostly self-taught doctor of medicine in New Guinea in 1875-1876. It is jaw-dropping adventure all the way through to the appdendix, "Head Hunters and Pirates of Borneo." Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-198-7 Pages: 256 $18.95

---

Edwin Bryant

What I Saw in California: By Wagon from Missouri to California in 1846-47 By Edwin Bryant As a young man in 1846-47, Edwin Bryant traveled from Independence, Missouri, through the Rocky Mountains, across the desert, and throughout California. He often functioned as an unofficial doctor on the wagon trains. Describing the trail west and the character of the local people, he was an extremely detailed observer, taking note of everything he saw. A highly informative book, and very well written. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-118-9 Pages: 332 $26.95

---

Frank T. Bullen

The Cruise of the Cachalot: Around the World After Sperm Whales By Frank T. Bullen Bullen was a sailor and then an officer on the "Cachalot" during its three-year whaling expedition from New Bedford, Massachusetts, around the world by way of the Seychelles and Aldabra islands, Hong Kong, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Cape Horn. This is the ultimate whaling narrative, superbly written. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-020-4 Pages: 232 $19.95

---

Frederick Gustavus Burnaby

A Ride to Khiva: My Travels and Adventures in Central Asia, 1875 By Frederick Gustavus Burnaby Frederick Gustavus Burnaby--soldier, traveler, writer, and pioneer balloonist--set out on an unofficial mission in 1875 to investigate the motives behind Russia's exclusion of foreigners from Central Asia. This real-life adventure details the hardship and humor of Burnaby's excursion. Reprinted eleven times in its first year of publication, the story made Burnaby a popular hero in his own day. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-227-4 Pages: 264 $19.95

---

Peter H. Burnett

Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer: By the First Governor of the State of California By Peter H. Burnett Peter Hardeman Burnett (1807-1895) spent his early years in Tennessee and Missouri, serving as a district attorney in the latter state. In 1843 he joined an emigrant party bound for Oregon, where he became a prominent and controversial lawyer, judge, and politician in the new territory. In 1848, he went to California in search of gold and soon became a business and political leader of that territory. This book, originally published in 1880, contains Burnett's recollections of his early life in Missouri, his career in Oregon, and his decision to join a wagon train to California in the summer of 1848. There he seeks gold for six months before resuming the practice of law and the pursuit of politics. Elected a judge in August and governor in December 1849, Burnett turned to the practice of law in the 1850s and the business of banking in the 1860s. A remarkable American Odyssey. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-256-8 Pages: 344 $22.95

---

Richard Francis Burton

Goa, and the Blue Mountains: Or, Six Months of Sick Leave By Richard Francis Burton Burton was a young British officer during the colonial period in India. Recovering from cholera, he was sent to the Nilgiri hills to recuperate. He journeyed along the coast of western India, visiting such places as Goa (the last remnant of the mighty Portuguese empire), Calcutta, and Ootacamund (the British rest-station). Burton's writing reflects the racial intolerance common in the imperialist era, and yet his insatiable curiosity led him to talk to the outcasts of society as well as the elite. While Burton has an unkind word for everyone, he also displays sincere compassion and a keen eye for local culture. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-038-7 Pages: 200 $16.95

---

The City of the Saints: Among the Mormons and Across the Rocky Mountains to California By Richard Burton The famous explorer's travels among the Mormons in Salt Lake City and the road west to California. Includes fascinating details on the native and white inhabitants. While in the city, Burton got to know Brigham Young and describes the man -- his appearance, mannerisms, and character -- in astonishing detail. Highly entertaining reading. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-230-4 Pages: 520 $28.95

---

View Next 20