The narratives of the voyages of the Elizabethan and early Jacobean era have served their turn over the centuries as stirring accounts of the daring of the empire-builders. In this collection of the contemporary accounts of three famous 'last voyages', these writings can be seen as a powerful and special kind of literature, having kinship with the great fictional tragedies of the period. Thomas Cavendish attempted in 1591 to repeat his earlier triumphant circumnavigation of the globe, but could not get through the Magellan Straits and died at sea, probably by his own hand, on the voyage home. Henry Hudson, making yet another attempt to find the North-West Passage in 1610-11, was set adrift in the ice by his own crew. Sir Walter Ralegh, released from the Tower, failed to find the Guiana gold in 1617-18 and came home to the executioner's axe. The men who wrote the accounts of these disastrous ventures were the participants themselves: the leaders, the mutineers, young gentlemen, even a poet and a mathematician. Apart from the poet, none were writing for a living, though some of them were writing for their lives, passionately justifying or exonerating themselves, challenging and contradicting each other. Brought together, their accounts form moving documents of endeavour and defeat in difficult seas and hostile terrain. All the narratives, given in modern spelling, have been newly re-edited from the original manuscripts or printings, with ample introductions which correct the existing historical record on a number of points, and with full explanatory commentary.

An unabridged edition to include: Wherein I Bow to the Reader - A Prelude to the Quest - A Magician Out of Egypt - I Meet A Messiah - The Anchorite of the Adyar River - The Yoga Which Conquers Death - The Sage Who Never Speaks - With The Spiritual Head of South India - The Hill of the Holy Beacon - Among The Magicians And Holy Men - The Wonder-Worker of Benares - Written in the Stars - The Garden of the Lord - At the Parsee Messiah's Headquarters - A Strange Encounter - In a Jungle Hermitage - Tablets of Forgotten Truth

The Beagle Diary was used to write Darwin's famous book 'Voyage of the Beagle' (1839). The narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836. Darwin describes each day of the voyage, some in intimate detail, during the Beagle's circumnavigation of the globe.

Fritz demonstrates how a series of unrelated events converged to make the Lewis and Clark expedition—and America's dream of westward expansion—a reality. Maps guide the reader along the routes taken by Lewis and Clark, and a detailed timeline gives readers an easy-to-use resource for looking up important dates and events. Biographical sketches of major figures conclude the work. An extensive bibliography and index make this an ideal first stop for anybody interested in learning more about this truly remarkable expedition. William Clark and Meriwether Lewis are widely credited with exploring the American West and paving the way for settlement. Yet if Thomas Jefferson's bid for president in 1800 had failed, the expedition probably would not have ventured west. Furthermore, if Napoleon had not been dealt a severe blow by a Haitian slave rebellion, France might never have sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States. The expedition also relied heavily on the goodwill of Native Americans peopling the explored territory. Fritz demonstrates how a series of unrelated events converged to make the Lewis and Clark expedition—and America's dream of westward expansion—a reality. Maps guide the reader along the routes taken by Lewis and Clark, and a detailed timeline gives readers an easy-to-use resource for looking up important dates and events. Biographical sketches of major figures conclude the work. An extensive bibliography and index make this an ideal first stop for anybody interested in learning more about this truly remarkable expedition.

During the course of his short but extraordinary life, John Ledyard (1751-1789) came in contact with some of the most remarkable figures of his era: the British explorer Captain James Cook, American financier Robert Morris, Revolutionary naval commander John Paul Jones, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and others. Ledyard lived and traveled in remarkable places as well, journeying from the New England backcountry to Tahiti, Hawaii, the American Northwest coast, Alaska, and the Russian Far East. In this engaging biography, the historian Edward Gray offers not only a full account of Ledyard's eventful life but also an illuminating view of the late eighteenth-century world in which he lived.
Ledyard was both a product of empire and an agent in its creation, Gray shows, and through this adventurer's life it is possible to discern the many ways empire shaped the lives of nations, peoples, and individuals in the era of the American Revolution, the world's first modern revolt against empire.

"When Thomas Jefferson sent a team of explorers to discover a way to the Pacific Ocean two hundred years ago, the western border of the United States was the Mississippi River. It was Jefferson's dream to uncover the mysteries of the distant lands beyond. In 1803, the president sent a team of thirty men, lead by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, up the Missouri River, across the Rocky Mountains, down the Columbia River to the Pacific, and back home again. During this monumental, two-and-a-half-year expedition, Lewis and Clark gathered samples of plants, animals, and Indian crafts. Into the Wilderness describes the difficult yet successful journey that made these men the celebrated heroes they are today. James J. Holmberg, curator of special collections at the Filson Historical Society, is the author of Dear Brother: Letters of William Clark to Jonathan Clark.

Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: 1804-1806; Part 1 & 2 Volume 4

La emigracion ilegal es un fenomeno que se ponde de manifiesto en la mayoria de los paises del tercer mundo. Como es conocido por todos, Cuba es uno de los paises desde donde salen cientos de emigrantes ilegales (llamados balseros) en busca del territorio estadounidense a traves de las peligrosas aguas del Estrecho de la Florida y a traves del extenso Mar Caribe.

En el intento de lograr sus objetivos, fundamentalmente economicos y de libertad, muchos logran coronar, pero tambien muchos desaparecen de manera lamentable en las profundidades de los mares.

En Escape al Caribe, su autor y protagonista en esta historia, es uno de los tantos cubanos que han utilizado el mar como via de escape. Aqui se narra la peligrosa travesia que el ralizo, conjuntamente con once de sus compatriotas, cruzando el Mar Caribe en una precaria embarcacion y luego atravesando los paises centroamericanos hasta llegar a Estados Unidos, enfrentandose de manera desafiante a infinidades de peligros que solamente se presentan en situaciones como esta."

Bradley Carlson's muscular dystrophy causes brutal leg cramps that leave him crumpled on the floor. He can't climb stairs and curbs, and sometimes he can't even move.

But none of that stopped him from putting his best foot forward and walking through his home state of Wisconsin. He walked through 595 incorporated cities, trekking from Lake Michigan to the mighty Mississippi.

During his journey, he experienced his share of falls and challenges, but he also met incredible people, enjoyed special moments, and witnessed the breathtaking beauty of his home state, including waterfalls, desert-like dunes along Lake Michigan, and picturesque mountaintops and forest views.

Bradley didn't set out on this journey to raise money or hand out brochures. He simply did it to show himself and others that someone with muscular dystrophy can accomplish great things.

You'll laugh, cry, meet new friends, and discover new places in this inspirational memoir about one man's refusal to give up while seeing "Wisconsin 1 Step at a Time."

Thrill of the Rookie chronicles the life of Osaze Ehigiator, beginning in Nigeria, a nation plagued with corruption and incessant coup, and how the author escaped to the USA. The tale then follows his difficult years in the States and his experiences with the underside of Americans who operate under different sets of codes called "The Eleventh Commandments" before pulling himself up by the bootstraps and finding success.

This is a book unlike any other before it. It is an autobiography with a twist to it-memoir. Instead of concentrating on me and my experience, lots of focus is placed on taking you through the entire journey I have been through and let you experience these things on your own without physically going through them. You get the full benefits of the experiments without actually been used as a specimen. You enjoy the thrills, humors and treats without feeling any of the pains or face the challenges. This book now dubbed the immigrants bible is also being defined as an adventure to a comic planet, full of excitements, challenges and humors.

3 independents book reviews

1: Ehigiator remains largely on point in his message that the American dream is attainable but must be appreciated and nurtured.......Engaging -Kirkus Review

2: A highly readable book----Ehigiator's talent for story telling is evident -BlueInk Review,

3: An intense, personal story of what it takes to embrace the American dream. Told with an intoxicating blend of humility, earnestness, and absurdity. Clarion Review- 4 stars out of 5.

Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: 1804-1806; Part 1 & 2 Volume 1

Since the first attempts by Europeans to penetrate Greenland's interior in the 18th century, its geometric center, Eismitte ("middle ice" in German), has been one of the most forbidding but scientifically rich locations in the Arctic. Tracing its history from European contact through to the Cold War, this study shows how Eismitte was a setting for scientific knowledge production as well as diplomatic maneuvering, providing new insights into the history of polar exploration and the intertwining of the scientific and geopolitical spheres. Author Janet Martin-Nielsen draws on new research in private, government, military, and institutional archives in multiple countries to explain how this very remote place became a highly charged site of collaboration, contestation, and competition.

In Cold Water immerses the reader in the challenges, sights, sounds, triumphs and disappointments of swimming the English Channel--and one man's fixation on the feat. First conquered in 1875 by Matthew Webb, the choppy, 22-mile Channel presents one of the supreme endurance challenges in all of sports. With nothing but a basic swimsuit, pair of goggles, a swim cap, and a goal, swimmers leave Dover Harbor in England and battle their way through frigid waters, mercurial weather, jellyfish, and unrelenting ship traffic. They swim through sunrises and sunsets powered by sheer will and specially formulated energy feeds. And if physical and mental conditions go their way, they walk out of the water in France. Mike Humphreys has swum the swim several times--and though he's yet to achieve his goal, he's amassed a fascinating book full of personal experiences, history, stories of other Channel swimmers, and lore surrounding the sport. For sports active adherents, armchair swimmers and athletes of every stripe, or even just those fascinated by the challenge of English Channel swimming, In Cold Water makes fascinating and inspiring reading.

Hernando de Soto, the Spanish conquistador, is legendary in the United States today: counties, cars, caverns, shopping malls and bridges all bear his name. This work explains the historical importance of his expedition, a journey that began at Tampa Bay in 1539 and ended in Arkansas in 1543. De Soto's explorations, the first European penetration of eastern North America, preceded a demographic disaster for the aboriginal peoples in the region. Old World diseases, perhaps introduced by the de Soto expedition and certainly by other Europeans in the 16th and 17th centuries, killed many thousands of Indians. By the middle of the 18th century only a few remained alive. The de Soto narratives provide the first European account of many of these Indian societies as they were at the time of European contact. This work interprets these and other 16th-century accounts in the light of new archaeological information, resulting in a more comprehensive view of the native peoples. Matching de Soto's camps to sites where artifacts from the de Soto era have been found, the authors reconstruct his route in Florida and at the same time clarify questions about the social geography and political relationships of the Florida Indians. They link names once known only from documents (for example, the Uzita, who occupied territory at the de Soto landing site, and the Aguacaleyquen of north peninsular Florida) to actual archaeological remains and sites.

A riveting account of the French pilot and World War I hero, Georges Guynemer.