A thrilling narrative of the larger-than-life clash between a relentless conqueror and a formidable king that led to the destruction of the Aztec empire, from the award-winning historian and author of River of Darkness“Fascinating . . . [an] almost unbelievable story of missionary zeal, greed, cruelty, and courage.”—The Wall Street Journal“A sweeping and majestic history of a clash of civilizations that reshaped th...

National Outdoor Book Awards WinnerThe true, harrowing story of the ill-fated 1913 Canadian Arctic Expedition and the two men who came to define it.In the summer of 1913, the wooden-hulled brigantine Karluk departed Canada for the Arctic Ocean. At the helm was Captain Bob Bartlett, considered the world’s greatest living ice navigator. The expedition’s visionary leader was a flamboyant impresario named Vilhjalmur Stefansson hungry f...

**National Outdoor Book Awards WinnerWinner of the BANFF Adventure Travel Award****“A thrilling and harrowing story. If it’s a cliche to say I couldn’t put this book down, well, too bad: I couldn’t put this book down.” —Jess Walter, bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins“Polar exploration is utter madness. It is the insistence of life where life shouldn’t exist. And so, Labyrinth of Ice shows you exactly what happen...

Two-time National Outdoor Book Award-winning author Buddy Levy's thrilling narrative of polar exploration via airship―and the men who sacrificed everything to make history.Arctic explorer and American visionary Walter Wellman pioneered both polar and trans-Atlantic airship aviation, making history’s first attempts at each. Yet, Wellman has been cast as a self-promoting egomaniac known mostly for his catastrophic failures. Instead he was a courageous innovator who p...

It was a moment unique in human history, the face-to-face meeting between two men from civilizations a world apart. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico, determined not only to expand the Spanish expire but to convert the natives to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. That he saw nothing paradoxical in his intentions is one of the most remarkable and tragic aspects of this unforgettable story. In Tenochtitlán, Cortés met his Aztec counterpart, Montezuma: king, di...

The acclaimed author of Labyrinth of Ice charts the legendary sixteenth-century adventurer's death-defying navigation of the Amazon River.In 1541, Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro and his lieutenant Francisco Orellana searched for La Canela, South America's rumored Land of Cinnamon, and the fabled El Dorado, "the golden man." Quickly, the enormous expedition of mercenaries, enslaved natives, horses, and hunting dogs were decimated through disease, star...

"Damron's subtle pacing manages the tension perfectly." —AudioFile on Empire of Ice and Stone**"Listen to this if you want to hear a narrator at the top of his game recount a fascinating—and at times disturbing—true story of adventure, disaster, discovery, cannibalism, and more. Will Damron makes Levy's fascinating account of the Greely (Polar) Expedition come to life" —AudioFile on Labyrinth of IceNation...

"...Damron's able narration carries listeners through this arduous journey with a steady tone that lightens at moments of joy and becomes grave at times of deep sadness and loss. While the tale has all of the trappings of a great adventure novel, neither the author nor Damron let listeners forget that the toll here was real, human, and significant."- Booklist"Will Damron sweeps listeners onto the Arctic ice with the shipwrecked crew of the Canadian...

"Listen to this if you want to hear a narrator at the top of his game recount a fascinating--and at times disturbing--true story of adventure, disaster, discovery, cannibalism, and more. Will Damron makes Levy's fascinating account of the Greely (Polar) Expedition come to life...This is a harrowing adventure story and a great listen." — AudioFile MagazineBased on the author's exhaustive research, the incredible true story of the Greely Expedition, ...

"A great myth-busting story, written in a taut narrative style that is guaranteed to keep the reader up all hours turning the pages." —Martin Dugard, coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Killing Lincoln (with Bill O'Reilly)Crack open the most in-depth, exciting portrait of Davy Crockett ever written, from acclaimed bestselling adventure-history author Buddy Levy. Insid...

From the acclaimed author of Conquistador comes this thrilling account of one of history's greatest adventures of discovery. With cinematic immediacy and meticulous attention to historical detail, here is the true story of a legendary sixteenth-century explorer and his death-defying navigation of the Amazon—river of darkness, pathway to gold.In 1541, the brutal conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro and his well-born lieutenant Francisco Orellana set off from Quito in search of La C...

David Crockett was an adventurer, a pioneer, and a media-savvy national celebrity. In his short-but-distinguished lifetime, this charismatic frontiersman won three terms as a US congressman and a presidential nomination. His 1834 memoir enjoyed frenzied sales and prompted the first-ever "official" book tour for its enormously popular author. Down-to-earth, heroic, and independent to a fault, the real Crockett became lost in his own hype, and he's been overshadowed by a larger-than-life, po...