Off the Map
Tales of Endurance and Exploration
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- $2.99
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
“A fine and lively collection of exploration stories” from the author of Barrow’s Boys (Kirkus Reviews).
On John Franklin’s 1820 expedition to find the Northwest Passage, Michel Teroahaute cannibalized two team members and was preparing a third when he was caught and killed. When Rene La Salle set off for the Mississippi Delta in 1684, he missed the target by five hundred miles, but on landing, immediately built a prison for those who fell asleep on watch. Consummate storyteller Fergus Fleming brings together these and forty-three other gripping stories spanning three ages of exploration in Off the Map.
Off the Map recounts episodes both classic and forgotten: The “classics” are brought to life in more vivid colors than ever before; the lesser-known stories offer accounts of extraordinary feats that have long lain hidden. From the Renaissance golden age of Columbus, da Gama, and Magellan, to the twentieth-century heroics of polar explorers such as Peary, Scott, and Amundsen, this is an unforgettable journey into the annals of adventure.
“A first-rate one-volume . . . introduction to many hair-raising stories of exploration.” —The New York Times
“Each story is short, punchy, and crammed with facts . . . Fleming possesses an eye for wry detail.” —Adventure
“There isn’t a dud in the lot . . . Adventure reading of a high order: brisk, fresh and full of color.” —Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
No activity embraces risk like exploration. Success means glory and wealth; failure most likely entails an undocumented demise thousands of miles from home. This sturdy work recounts the memorable circumstances of history's greatest journeys of discovery. Former Time-Life Books editor Fleming (Killing Dragons) has mastered the craft of imparting huge swaths of information in an accessible way. Thematically(and sensibly) divided into three sections covering "Reconnaissance," "Inquiry" and "Endeavour," the book's 45 accounts lie at the intersection of individual obsessiveness and collective, often imperial, ambition. Whether elaborating on von Humboldt's accidental exploitation of guano (bird manure fertilizer), Henry Hudson's encounter with a mermaid or the French search for a Saharan field of emeralds, Fleming's writing is informative and vivid, never stinting on such basic human drives as greed, glory and geopolitical domination. As the book inexorably moves from 1271 to 1928 (Umberto Mobile, pioneering North Pole pilot), the narratives inevitably shift from such weighty matters as the modern European explorations of China, North America, India and Brazil to geographical poles and inaccessible peaks. Almost comprehensive enough to serve as a reference, this densely packed tome supplies a bewildering wealth of information about some of humanity's most compelling adventures. B&w photos, maps.
