Books by Category » Fortune Hunting

Eldorado: Adventures in the Path of Empire By Bayard Taylor Taylor was sent by Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune to San Francisco in September, 1849 to report on the Gold Rush. He was already well known as a writer of travels in Europe "with knapsack and staff." This book is a treasure, and is the source of the phrase, "Go west, young man." Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-231-2 Pages: 348 $24.95

Head Hunters of the Amazon: My Adventures in the Jungle 1894-1901 By Fritz Up de Graff One of the all-time greatest adventure books. Up de Graff -- a recent graduate of a U.S. engineering school -- tells of his adventures in the Andes and down the Amazon during the late 1800's. More than once he was near death, but his brains, education, youth, and dumb luck got him through. You can't go wrong with tales about vampire bats, electric eels, murderous poachers, giant whirlpools, 30 foot anacondas, backwater village louts, and of course headhunting at its best. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-233-9 Pages: 248 $19.95

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

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 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 Cruise of the 'Alerte': In Search of Treasure By E. F. Knight This is an old-fashion treasure hunt and a great nautical adventure. The author and a small amateur crew left England in 1889 aboard a 64 foot schooner, bound for the uninhabited island of Trinidad off Brazil. They had with them a description of the treasure's location, passed on to them from a dying pirate. Several months later they reached the island, went ashore, and realized that the land conformed exactly to the pirate's tale. They began to dig. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-203-7 Pages: 200 $16.95

Three Years Among the Indians and Mexicans: Expeditions to the Frontier in 1809-1810 and in 1821-1822 By Thomas James In 1809, Thomas James joined up with the Missouri Fur Company to trap beaver on the upper river. But he was cheated, left the party, and struck out on his own. He and his companions faced starvation and hostile natives constantly. Later, in 1821 and 1822 he made two other trading expeditions into New Mexico. His accounts are extraordinary high adventure, but they are also a treasure of frontier names, places, and customs. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-202-9 Pages: 176 $13.95

Three Years in the Klondike: A Gold Miner's Life in Dawson City, 1898-1901 By Jeremiah Lynch Jeremiah Lynch was a businessman (and former San Francisco politician) who went to the Klondike in 1898, two years after gold was discovered. He describes his three years in and around Dawson City as a miner and a merchant. His narrative is an articulate and highly colorful observation of the characters and the social environment of gold rush Dawson. The town is the real protagonist in this story. Fans of the television show "Northern Exposure" will understand. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-096-4 Pages: 180 $16.95