Showing titles in Adventurers, Explorers & Survival

Captain Eddie V. Rickenbacker, originally from Ohio, was best known as one of the commanders of the 94th "Hat-in-the-Ring" Squadron, a crack unit of World War I pilots that included many former members of the famed Lafayette Escadrille. The 94th ended the war in France with the highest number of air victories of any American squadron.

Based on select writings from an exceptional Amsterdam archive containing more than two thousand Dutch diaries from World War II, The Diary Keepers illuminates a part of history we haven’t seen in quite this way before. This audiobook is read by Nina Siegal, Maggi-Meg Reed, Nan McNamara...

Zimmerman writes of the exhilaration he feels while climbing but also the painful realization that summiting at all costs is an outdated model. As A Fine Line traces Graham's journey, mountain lovers everywhere will see themselves in this coming-of-age story of adventure and personal reckoning.

A major revisionist history of the Lewis and Clark expedition: For the first time in a generation, This Vast Enterprise offers a fresh and more accurate account of one of the most important episodes in American history, humanizing forgotten figures and shattering long-held myths. “Original...

In the aftermath of tragedy, Barry Hoffner wanted to feel the pulse of the world again. The whole world. When Barry Hoffner lost his wife and travel partner, Jackie, in a sudden tragedy, his grief was a black hole that consumed everything. But amid the quiet wreckage of loss, something unexpected stirred: the call to move, to reconnect, and to live fully again.

An “adventure tale for puzzle lovers and Indiana Jones fans alike” (The Washington Post) following three free-spirited Victorians on their twenty-year quest to decipher cuneiform, the oldest writing in the world—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bad-Ass Librarians of...

From the court of Imperial Russia to Foxley Manor in Herefordshire, the story begins with the First World War. Part One takes the listener through the Russian Revolution to the formation of the Second Polish Republic and the Polish-Bolshevik war. Part Two begins at the outset to World War Two with the German invasion on September 1st, 1939, and the subsequent invasion by the Soviet Union on the 17th of the same month. The listener is taken through the early months of soviet occupation and then on to the first wave of Polish deportations to Siberia.

Why would a 57-year-old with a genetic heart condition attempt the fastest journey on foot from Cape Town to Cairo? In Running Africa, Keith Boyd tells the story of his epic run, complete with injuries, illness, being taken hostage, getting caught up in a rebel firefight, and having members of his team imprisoned.

Ask almost anyone their view on Aleister Crowley and opinions will polarize: he was a genius; a psychopath; a drug-riddled sex maniac; a champion of sexual freedom against the restrictions of Victorian prudery and hypocrisy; he was a secret agent; a lost-soul poet; a playboy with little better to do than dabble in magic; a lifestyle imitator of Oscar Wilde and Richard Burton; a drug addict; a narcissistic sadist; a visionary artist.

In 2018, Claire Nelson made international headlines. She was in her 30s and was beginning to burn out - her hectic London life of work and social activity and striving to do more and do better in the big city was frenetic and stressful. Although she was surrounded by people all of the time, she felt increasingly lonely. When the anxiety she felt finally brought her to breaking point, Claire decided to take some time off and travelled to Joshua Tree Park in California to hike and clear her head. What happened next was something she could never have anticipated.

On 12th May 1982, as the Falklands conflict became a shooting war, journalist Julian Manyon and his TV crew were kidnapped on the streets of Buenos Aires and put through a traumatic mock execution by the secret police. Less than eight hours later, they were invited to film a world exclusive interview with an apologetic President Galtieri, head of the Argentine Junta. Spurred on by the recent release of declassified CIA documents about Argentina's 'Dirty War', Manyon discovered the identity of his kidnapper and his terrifying record of torture and murder

Memoirs of a Real Crocodile Hunter is a first-hand account of crocodile hunting in Africa, drawing listeners deep into the wild river systems of Malawi and the wider southern African region. Bartlett describes real encounters with problem crocodiles, human fatalities, and the responsibility carried by those tasked with stopping predators that have learned to hunt people.

Why do two continents bear Amerigo Vespucci's name instead of Columbus's, despite Columbus reaching the New World first? Stefan Zweig solved this historical mystery in his 1942 final work through archival detective work. The answer: A German cartographer named Martin Waldseemüller, working in 1507, read an account claiming Vespucci reached the mainland before Columbus. Based on this likely forged document, Waldseemüller labeled the continents "America." The name spread across Europe in thousands of copies before the error was recognized—by then, too late to correct.

When The Maclean Brothers rowed non-stop and unsupported across the Pacific - the largest ocean on the planet - they made history. A few years before the journey, they were complete novices. But through determination and relentless training, they transformed themselves into multi-record-breaking rowers, raising £1 million for clean water projects and testing their bond as brothers against exhaustion, fear and the ocean itself. Nail-biting and inspirational, this is the extraordinary true story of how they survived the crossing.

Ekow Eshun conjures the voices of five very different men. Ira Aldridge: nineteenth century actor and playwright. Matthew Henson: polar explorer. Frantz Fanon: psychiatrist and political philosopher. Malcolm X: activist leader. Justin Fashanu: million-pound footballer. Each a trailblazer in his field. Each haunted by a sense of isolation and exile. Each reaching for a better future. Ekow Eshun tells their stories with breathtaking lyricism and empathy, capturing both the hostility and the beauty they experienced in the world.

*Now a major international TV series starring Rachel Griffiths and Martin Henderson* A poignant and darkly comedic memoir from a mother who opened an ethical escort agency in small town New Zealand – the only country in the world where sex work is fully legalised – and dared to make a...

In early 2003, a young Wall Street investment banker named Bo Parfet set out to accomplish something very few had done before - climbing the highest mountain on every continent. He was not a professional climber, but what began as a casual interest would soon become a lifelong passion and in just over four years, Bo would overcome the odds and conquer all of the mountains - Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, Denali, Vinson Massif, Elbrus, Carstenz Pyramid, Kosciusko, and Everest - with courage, unbridled passion, and determination.

David Livingstone was one of the most consequential individuals who lived in the 19th century. An unpretentious Scottish missionary doctor, explorer, and abolitionist, he opened the door for Christianity in southern Africa. He was a man who overcame many deprivations and discouragements, and displayed the utmost measure of courage, self-control, faith, wisdom, and ingenuity. Christie takes a balanced look at Livingstone’s amazing achievements, but also at his very real flaws. This gripping and in-depth biography is a must-listen insight into a fascinating man.

This book is a lush and beautiful memoir of a very special house and a superb recreation of a bygone era. In 1967, veteran travel writer Eric Newby and his heroic wife Wanda fulfiled their dream of a return to life in the Italian hills where they first met during World War II. But this...

A classic of travel writing, ‘A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush’ is Eric Newby’s iconic account of his journey through one of the most remote and beautiful wildernesses on earth. It was 1956, and Eric Newby was earning an improbable living in the chaotic family business of London haute...