Dead Reckoning

A collection of stories from the nineteenth century's most legendary voyages of discovery. For intensity of geographical exploration and wealth of first-rate adventure writing by intrepid men and women, the nineteenth century stands alone. This definitive collection contains thirty-five stories from the most compelling odysseys of the century: Fridtjof Nansen tries to walk to the North Pole; Mary Kingsley wanders alone in the jungles of West Africa; Richard Burton makes a forbidden pilgrimage to Mecca; Mary Mummery describes a harrowing first ascent in the Alps; Francis Parkman hunts buffalo with the Sioux. The excerpts are as varied as the voyages themselvessome humorous and lighthearted, others desperate and thrillingbut all are examples of adventure, and adventure writing, at the highest level. Several long-forgotten classics are reprinted here for the first time in one hundred years. From the search for the source of the Nile to the first crossing of the Himalayas to a quest for the origin of species, this book ranges the globe and captures the restlessness of the human spirit. 30 b/w illustrations.