"From historian and critically acclaimed author of The Three-Cornered War comes the propulsive and vividly told story of how Yellowstone became the world's first national park amid the nationwide turmoil and racial violence of the Reconstruction era. Each year nearly four million people visit Yellowstone National Park--one of the most popular of all national parks--but few know the fascinating and complex historical context in which it was established....

In 1810, John Jacob Astor sent out two advanced parties to settle the wild, unclaimed western coast of North America. More than half of his men died violent deaths. The others survived starvation, madness, and greed to shape the destiny of a continent. At a time when the edge of American settlement barely reached beyond the Appalachian Mountains, two visionaries, President Thomas Jefferson and millionaire John Jacob Astor, foresaw that one day the...

Presents an account of the two-and-a-half-year expedition that yielded vast knowledge of the West, geographically and scientifically.

A biography of Sacagawea who accompanied and aided the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

True story of Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic adventures. Bound for Antarctica in 1914, Shackleton's ship, the Endurance, was trapped in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea. Ten months later, the ship sank, stranding Shackleton and his crew of 27. Based on the diaries and first person accounts of expedition members, the film tells of their ordeal and their 800-mile journey in an open boat across the world's worst seas that made their rescue possible.

The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations,...

Profiles the life and adventures of Daniel Boone; chronicling his childhood in Pennsylvania, service in the French and Indian War, journey across the Appalachians, and settlement of Boonesboro, Kentucky; and includes illustrations, maps, and primary source quotations.

"Without risking life or limb, readers can explore the wonders and beauty of the Amazon in this Where Is ...? title. Human beings have inhabited the banks of the Amazon River since 13,000 BC and yet they make up just a small percentage of the 'population' of this geographic wonderland. The Amazon River basin teems with life--animal and plant alike. It's a rainforest that is home to an estimated 390 billion individual trees, 2.5 million species of...

We think of Stanley as a cruel imperialist who connived with King Leopold II of Belgium in horrific crimes against the people of the Congo--and the journalist who conducted the most legendary celebrity interview in history, opening with, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" But these perceptions are not quite true, as biographer Jeal shows. With access to previously closed Stanley family archives, Jeal reveals the extent to which Stanley's career and life...