"This was obviously a labor of love for the author. Libraries large and small will find it a major ready-reference source on historic women in America." Library Journal

Tinling has written a book about the exploration and derring-do of 42 women who, individually or with another, ventured forth to parts unknown or little known in the 19th and 20th centuries. . . . The accomplishment of each is sketched in biographical form that will variously intrigue, interest, and fascinate readers of varied persuasions. "Choice"

Despite social restraints and limited financial resources, women have traveled in the past two centuries to virtually every unexplored region of the earth, sometimes with a male companion and often leading their own expeditions. In this book, Tinling offers portraits of some forty-five enterprising and intrepid women who have explored uncharted territory investigating the lives and customs of remote human societies, study rare plants and wild animals, or excavating the ruins of ancient civilizations. The subjects include English, American, and continental European women. In addition to detailed biographical essays, the author presents comprehensive bibliographical data on the published and unpublished works of the subjects and the articles and books that have been written about them.

The explorations of these women have yielded impressive contributions to many areas of knowledge, including geography, archaeology, botany, zoology, and anthropology, as well as sensitive accounts of travel and discovery. Each of the biographical sketches supplies a chronological listing of the subject's writings and a list of chief bibliographical sources. The volume concludes with an annotated list of travel books by women in the English language, a general bibliography, and an index. This book is an appropriate resource for studies in women's history, geography, social history, and anthropology, and an appealing choice for women readers with an interest in travel and biography.

When the explorers Lewis and Clark asked the Shoshone woman Sacagawea and her husband, French trapper Toussaint Charbonneau, to be interpreters on their expedition, the couple brought their two-month-old son Jean Baptiste along. But the rest of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau's story has been largely untold--until now. Educated in St. Louis by Captain Clark, Jean Baptiste went on to live in a royal palace in Europe and to speak many languages. But, truly his parents' son, he returned to the American West, living out his life as a trapper, scout, and explorer.