So many books about the American West leave out the more intriguing details:When, in 1803, the young USA doubled its size with the purchase from France of an unexplored vastness called La Louisiane, it was a British bank which lent the Americans most of the 15 million that they didn't have. So the financial papers for the biggest real-estate deal in history are, to this day, held in a London vault. Not many people know that… If his ranching uncle-by-marriage had had his way, the teenaged W...

Why Not? After all, no-one had ever done it before. It would be one of the longest of all overland journeys - half way round the world, from the English Channel to Singapore. They knew that several expeditions had already tried it. Some had got as far as the desrts of Persia; a few had even reached the plains of India. But no one had managed to go on from there: over the jungle clad mountains of Assam and across northern Burma to Thailand and Malaya. Over the last 3,000 miles it seemed the...

Decades before Race Across the World, six friends made the epic journey from London to Singapore and back in two Land Rovers.Why not? No-one had ever done it: one of the longest of all overland journeys, from the English Channel to Singapore. Several expeditions had tried. Some had reached the Persian deserts; a few, the Indian plains. But none had gone further: over the jungle-clad Assamese mountains, across northern Burma, to Thailand and Malaya. It was ...

* NOW A MAJOR DOCUMENTARY SERIES ON ALL 4 *‘This is a fabulous adventure – reckless, insanely ambitious and filled with sweat, tears and laughter ... irresistible reading.’ Joanna Lumley‘Alex Bescoby weaves travel, adventure, history and the contemporary together like no one else. His great gift is to take us on a journey through past and present. By its end we have learned more about the world and ourselves.’ Dan Snow

Starting an expedition requires planning, faith, and ignorance. When I set off on a trans-continental expedition in a vintage Land Rover I was strong on the second two.For Land Rover's 50th anniversary in 1998 I joined a group of fifty people from all over North America to travel off-road from Canada to Mexico. Acting as my co-drivers were my brother, father, and girlfriend, in order of declining mechanical ability and increasing attractiveness. Our caravan was populated by mismatc...

Land Rovers are the vehicles that take you to the places others can't reach – and nowhere is this more true than in Africa. Renowned Land Rover expert David Phillips takes you there in this unmissable book, in which he recounts his amazing adventures from the dunes of the Sahara Desert to the desolate mountains of Lesotho and the wildlife-rich plains and swamps of the Okavanga Delta, driving vehicles ranging from vintage Series Is through to the latest hi-tech Discoverys.He also giv...

Little Book of Land Rover takes a trip down memory lane and remembers the models that drove their way into the Nation s hearts.. Foreword by motoring historian Stephen Vokins, archivist at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, and one of the foremost authorities on the story of the legendary marque. Launched in 1948 the Land Rover had some unexpected owners including King George VI and Winston Churchill and once the British Army embraced it as their vehicle of choice, the Land Rover s place...

The Oatman massacre is among the most famous and dramatic captivity stories in the history of the Southwest. In this riveting account, Brian McGinty explores the background, development, and aftermath of the tragedy.Roys Oatman, a dissident Mormon, led his family of nine and a few other families from their homes in Illinois on a journey west, believing a prophecy that they would find the fertile “Land of Bashan” at the confluence of the Gila and Colorado Rivers. On February 18, 185...

Lies, murder, and a legendary courtroom battle threaten to tear apart the Territory of Hawaii.In September of 1931, Thalia Massie, a young naval lieutenant’s wife, claims to have been raped by five Hawaiian men in Honolulu. Following a hung jury in the rape trial, Thalia’s mother, socialite Grace Fortescue, and husband, along with two sailors, kidnap one of the accused in an attempt to coerce a confession. When they are caught after killing him and trying to dump h...

In his concise, richly detailed memoir My Sixty Years on the Plains fur-trapper W. T. Hamilton - also known as ‘Wildcat Bill’ - gives the reader a first-hand account of life outdoors in the Old West. From trailblazing to trading with Indians, Hamilton relates how a mountain man relied on his wits and specialized knowledge in order survive the inhospitable environments.

The diaries and letters of women on the overland trails in the mid- to late nineteenth century are treasured documents. These eleven selections drawn from the multivolume Covered Wagon Women series present the best first-person trail accounts penned by women in their teens who traveled west between 1846 and 1898. Ranging in age from eleven to nineteen, unmarried and without children of their own, these diarists had experiences different from those of older women who carried heavie...

What is the secret alchemy of great presidential leadership? Presidential Courage, Three Speeches That Changed America by Warren Kozak discovers the answer through three speeches and three presidents who faced the greatest challenges in American history. And by their lead and through their words, they transformed a nation.On the night of June 6, 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed an anxious people whose sons were dying by the thousands in the D-Day invasion. In one of the...