At the turn of the twentieth century, Arctic explorer Edward Mackley sets out to reach the North Pole and vanishes into the icy landscape without a trace. He leaves behind a young wife, Emily, who awaits his return for decades, her dreams and devotion gradually freezing into rigid widowhood. A hundred years later, on a sweltering mid-summer's day, Edward's great-grand-niece Julia moves through the old family house, attempting to impose some order...

Presents biographical sketches of twenty-five significant individuals in the history of world exploration, arranged alphabetically from Roald Amundsen to Amerigo Vespucci.

An irresistible blend of history, myth, and misadventure, A Voyage Long and Strange captures the wonder and drama of first contact. Vikings, conquistadors, French voyageurs--these and many others roamed an unknown continent in quest of grapes, gold, converts, even a cure for syphilis. Though most failed, their remarkable exploits left an enduring mark on the land and people encountered by late-arriving English settlers.--From publisher description....

Profiles the lives and accomplishments of such women known for their travels as Isabella Bird Bishop, Amelia Earhart, Mary Kingsley, Annie Smith Peck, Freya Stark, and Valentina Tereshkova.

Examines the facts and myths surrounding the explorations of Odysseus, Christopher Columbus, Neil Armstrong, and others.

This sweeping biography is the story of early America--its ideals, its promise, its romance, and its destiny. Novelist Morgan transforms a mythic American hero--a legend in his own time--into a flesh-and-blood man, the man who was the largest spirit of his time. Hunter, explorer, settler, visionary, he was a trailblazer and a revolutionary--an American icon for more than two hundred years. Born in 1734, Boone served in the Virginia legislature, participated...

A tale of magical landscapes and impossible quests in 19th-century Peru follows the experiences of a disabled former East India Company smuggler who reluctantly accepts a treacherous mission to fetch quinine from a tiny mission colony on the edge of the Amazon.