The devil may care : fifty intrepid Americans and their quest for the unknown / edited by Tony Horwitz.
Material type: TextPublication details: Oxford [England] ; New York : Oxford University Press , c2003.Description: 283 p. : ill., maps ; 22 cmISBN:- 9780195169225
- 917.304 HOR
- CT9970 .D49 2003
Item type | Current library | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Libro - Monografía | Biblioteca Pública de San Miguel de Allende, A.C. | 917.304 HOR (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 003354 |
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Biographies selected from the American national biography.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-274) and index.
Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca -- John Smith -- David Pietersen de Vries -- Francesco Giuseppe Bressani -- Hannah Duston -- Sir Alexander Cuming -- Ann Hennis Trotter Bailey -- Jean Baptiste Point du Sable -- Samuel Mason -- John Ledyard -- Simon Kenton -- George Crowninshield, Jr. -- Anne Newport Royall -- John Colter -- Giacomo Constantino Beltrami -- Marie Dorion -- Frances Wright -- George Catlin -- Samuel Patch -- David Douglas -- John August Sutter -- Jacob Netsvetov -- James Bridger -- Eliza Hart Spalding -- John Wise -- Albert Pike -- Grizzly Adams -- Agoston Haraszthy de Mokcsa -- John Charles Frémont -- Elisha Kent Kane -- Edward Zane -- Carroll Judson -- William Walker -- California Joe -- John Morrissey -- Mary Ann Brown Patten -- Buffalo Jones -- Agnes Elisabeth Winona Leclercq -- Joy Salm-Salm -- Joshua Slocum -- Railroad Bill -- Ishi -- David Fagen -- Belle Livingstone -- Hiram Bingham -- Duncan Hines -- Louise Arner Boyd -- Annette Kellerman -- Duke Paoa Kahanamoku -- Merian Coldwell Cooper -- Hubert F. Julian -- Richard Halliburton.
Question: what do Railroad Bill, Ishi, Grizzly Adams, John Colter, and Marie Dorion have in common? Besides having an entry in the massive American National Biography (ANB), their lives were marked by adventure, daring, and risk. Horwitz (Blue Latitudes; Confederates in the Attic) culled 50 stories from the ANB using a very broad definition of adventure. He deliberately omitted famous adventurers like Daniel Boone and Sacajawea and only included a few household names whose stories surprised him. Found here are missionaries, fur trappers, tramps, showgirls, scholars, and soldiers. For example, Railroad Bill stole, hijacked a train, evaded search parties, and after his murder became a folk hero for Southern blacks, his story immortalized in song. Dorion served as an Indian interpreter in the 1810s for fur-trapping companies in the western United States. Horwitz briefly introduces each biography and finishes the volume with a list of sources and further readings. The narratives are incredibly interesting and truly addicting.
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