Books by Category » Africa

African Game Trails: The Classic Big Game Safari By Theodore Roosevelt This book reads like a loping conversation with our 26th president. He has just returned from his year-long safari in east Africa at the turn of the last century and he is full of stories about hunting and native life. He is also full of dated opinions about the native peoples and what should be done about them (for their own good, of course). The graphic (and endless) hunting scenes are also not for the vegans amongst us. But all this said, this is a bully adventure book. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-006-9 Pages: 296 $25.95

Camera Trails in Africa: A Photographer's Safari in British East Africa By Martin Johnson Johnson, previously a photographer of 'wild men' in the islands of the South Seas, takes his first African safari in the early 1920's. With his wife Osa he journeys through Eastern Africa, photographing and hunting wild animals. Replete with thrilling adventures, near-fatal mishaps, and moments of quiet beauty, this is the story of the beginning of the Johnsons' love affair with Africa. In his graceful, accurate prose, Martin describes the awesome creatures of the savannah, occasionally interjecting a tirade about the poisoning influences of the 'civilization.' A lovely and entertaining book. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-016-6 Pages: 228 $17.95

Dead Men Do Tell Tales: A 1930's Archaeological Expedition into Abyssinia By Byron Khun de Prorok This is de Prorok's tale of his archaeological expedition into Abyssinia (now called Ethiopia) in 1933-34. Hardly the patient scientist, Prorok tells about raiding tombs, flirting with native women, outrunning murderous warlords, spying on magical cults, and getting hip-deep in political intrigue in one of the wildest places on Earth. This fellow is the real Indiana Jones. This edition contains an historical introduction and extensive footnotes. (Second Edition) Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-245-2 Pages: 240 $17.95

Digging for Lost African Gods: Five Years' Archaeological Excavation in North Africa By Byron Khun de Prorok This is Prorok's first book. It covers his 1921 excavations at Carthage, his deep-sea diving (in the huge old headgear) for a sunken city off Djerba, his look at Roman villas at Utica, and his thousand-mile drive in custom-made, six-wheel Renault cars across the Algerian and Libyan deserts to the Hoggar mountains. While somewhat less wild than his later books, there is more detail here on his early career and the logistics of digs in the 1920's. Includes historical introduction and maps. (Second Edition) Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-260-6 Pages: 280 $18.95

In Darkest Africa: Or the Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin Pasha Governor of Equatoria By Henry M. Stanley This was to be Stanley's last expedition to Africa. He was charged with rescuing Emin Pasha (Viceroy), who had been appointed a governor in the southern Sudan by the British, and had been forced to retreat to the Lake Albert (now northern Uganda) by the uprising led by an Islamic holy man. In 1888 Stanley journeyed up the Congo and to the lake, reaching Emin, who refused to leave. Eventually persuaded by Stanley, they proceeded to the Indian Ocean by way of the Semliki River which was found to connect Lake Albert with Lake Edward. Both volumes of the original are included in this single edition. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-278-9 Pages: 644 $32.95

In Quest of Lost Worlds: Five Archaeological Expeditions 1925-1934 By Byron Khun de Prorok This book covers five different archaeological expeditions: the discovery of Tin Hinan's tomb in the Hoggar Mountains of the Sahara (1925-26); the excavation of Jupiter Ammon in Libya (1926-28); a short trip into Tripolitania, Libya (1931); an encounter with the stone-age Lacandon Indians in Chiapas, Mexico (1932-33); and a search for King Solomon's mines in Ethiopia (1933-34). Some of this material is covered in his other books, but the details and the telling here are radically different: this book illuminates the others, and vice versa. But if you buy only one de Prorok book, this should be it. (Second Edition) Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-246-0 Pages: 264 $17.95

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

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

Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa: Including a Sketch of Sixteen Years' Residence in the Interior of Africa By David Livingstone The Christian missionary and explorer Dr. Livingstone was among the first Europeans to penetrate into the interior of Africa on his own. He faced pestilence, animal attacks, and the brutal traffic in human beings that he was determined to eradicate. From South Africa, he traveled north to the Kalahari Desert in 1849, on to the west coast and then to the east coast. He saw fertile river valleys with abundant animal life and a variety of tribes -- not to mention the famous falls, which he named Victoria. Livingstone has a sly wit too, challenging the lion's place as "King of Beasts." Absorbing reading! Both volumes of the original are included in this single edition. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-287-8 Pages: 484 $26.95

Mysterious Sahara: The Land of Gold, of Sand, and of Ruin By Byron Khun de Prorok Count de Prorok describes his 1925-28 expedition south from Algeria, across the Sahara, to the mountains of the Hoggar, his discovery of the tomb of Queen Tin Hinan, and his rather hasty examination of the temple of Jupiter Ammon, where Alexander the Great "became a god." Some of this material is also covered in de Prorok's "In Quest of Lost Worlds" but he goes into much more detail here, especially on the fantastic Tuaregs, the giant "white" race of the Sahara. He finds evidence linking the Tuaregs with medieval Europe and Atlantis. First-rate adventure. Includes historical introduction, notes, and maps. (Second Edition) Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-257-6 Pages: 236 $17.95

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 Autobiography of Sir Henry Morton Stanley: The Making of a 19th-Century Explorer By Henry M. Stanley Henry Stanley is one of the most famous and flamboyant (and self-promoting) British explorers of the 19th century. After surviving a very difficult childhood, Stanley ran away to sea and became a soldier in the American Civil War, traveled to Greece, and finally to Africa, where he explored the continent in the name of civilization (and found Livingstone, of course). This book is the intimate and compelling self-portrait of the famous adventurer, edited by his wife. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-010-7 Pages: 416 $31.95

The Lake Regions of Central Africa: From Zanzibar to Lake Tanganyika By Richard Francis Burton The multi-talented English explorer Sir Richard Burton describes his three-year voyage throughout Central Africa from 1856 to 1859. In an attempt to interest both the scholar and the common reader, Burton mingles accounts of his own adventures with more scientific observations. Burton's fascinating chronicle contains detailed geographic and socio-cultural information, as well as commentary which is often offensive but always interesting to scholars of colonial Africa. Lake Regions of Central Africa is considered a prime example of an explorer's journal. Both volumes of the original are included in this single edition. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-288-6 Pages: 460 $25.95

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 Zambesi Expedition: To the Zambesi River and Its Tributaries By David Livingstone Livingstone's first book revolutionized the way European readers saw Africa and made him a hero in England. He returned again to the Zambesi with his brother Charles and others, this time with more equipment and funds. Again he faced hippopotami, crocodiles, impossible terrain, and disease, but his greatest enemies on this trip prove to be human. The British eventually lost faith in the expedition, but Livingstone proved in the end to have had tremendous foresight. He doesn't romanticize, but he is often poetic in this account. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-122-7 Pages: 304 $25.95

Veiled Men, Red Tents, and Black Mountains: The Lost Tomb of Queen Tin Hinan By Alonzo Pond Pond was the only trained scientist on the first automobile expedition across the Sahara in 1925-26. The party went from Algeria south to the mountains of the Hoggar, where the team stayed with the mysterious Tuareg people -- Caucasian inhabitants of the Sahara. Later, Pond and the others found and hastily excavated the tomb of Queen Tin Hinan. Byron de Prorok also wrote about this trip, but the two versions are so different! Pond goes for poetry over sensationalism. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-206-1 Pages: 212 $14.95

Wanderings in West Africa: From Liverpool to Fernando Po By Richard Francis Burton Richard Burton proves once again his ability to write something interesting on any subject in this narrative of his trip from Liverpool to Fernando Po (Equatorial Guinea) in the early 1860's. The book is laid out chronologically, following his meandering progress down the west coast of Africa. Of course Burton stumbles upon many an adventure, as he inquires deeply into everything he encounters, not content to just pass through as an outsider. He is also able to expound on any subject, drawing on an incredible wealth of cultural and scientific knowledge to really flesh out his experiences. In two volumes. Both volumes of the original are included in this single edition. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-289-4 Pages: 292 $18.95