"Jackie Ronne reclaims her rightful place in polar history as the first American woman in Antarctica. Jackie was an ordinary American girl whose life changed after a blind date with rugged Antarctic explorer Finn Ronne. After marrying, they began planning the 1946-48 Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition. Her participation was not welcomed by the expedition team of red-blooded males eager to prove themselves in the hostile environment. On March 12,...

On May 24, 1869, a one-armed Civil War veteran named John Wesley Powell and a ragtag band of nine mountain men embarked on the last great quest in the American West. No one had ever explored the fabled Grand Canyon; to adventurers of that era it was a region almost as mysterious as Atlantis -- and as perilous. The ten men set out down the mighty Colorado River in wooden rowboats. Six survived. Drawing on rarely examined diaries and journals, Down...

A narrative account of the daring adventures of the legendary polar explorer and aviator and his loveable dog companion draws on letters, diaries, interviews, newspaper clippings, and expedition records to recount their dramatic and history-making achievements in the North and South Poles.

"For Mireya Mayor, even as a young child whose house was filed with cats, dogs, rabbits, birds, a chicken, and a snapping turtle, nothing was quite wild enough. Older, she traded her pom-poms as a cheerleader for the National Football League for the swamps of the South American jungle. The first woman wildlife TV reporter for National Geographic, she traveled the world, but things still weren't quite wild enough. It was only when Mireya went to Madagascar...

"Rose presents the first complete biography of this popular yet controversial explorer, including his first adventure in Greenland in 1925, his flights to the North and South Poles and across the Atlantic, his soul-shattering ordeal in Antarctica at Advance Base in 1934, and the decline of his later years"--Provided by publisher.

Four years after the Revolutionary War, America's independence was still in doubt. The new nation needed money and a vital surge in trade. In 1787, a group of Boston merchants decided to send two ships on a desperate mission around Cape Horn and into the Pacific Ocean, to establish new trade with China, settle an outpost on territory claimed by the Spanish, and find the legendary Northwest Passage. The seven-year adventure, known as the Columbia Expedition,...

Young Nellie Bly had ambitious goals, especially for a woman at the end of the nineteenth century, when the few female journalists were relegated to writing columns about cleaning or fashion. But fresh off a train from Pittsburgh, Nellie knew she was destined for more and pulled a major journalistic stunt that skyrocketed her to fame: feigning insanity, being committed to the notorious asylum on Blackwell's Island, and writing a shocking exposé of...