Exploration & Discovery, Biographies 

The men who opened the West were an astounding breed. They went for days without food, waited out howling blizzards in makeshift shelters, repeatedly capsized their canoes in treacherous rapids, and hung on for their very lives while dangling from cliffs. What inspired these intrepid trailblazers to go to such extremes? Whether it was due to grandiose dreams of glory, determination to map unknown lands, or insatiable curiosity, the knowledge they brought back changed the course of North American history. This absorbing group biography includes eleven noteworthy explorers: navigators Robert Gray, George Vancouver, and Alexander Mackenzie; mountain men John Colter, James Bridger, Jedediah Strong Smith, and Joseph Reddeford Walker; military men Zebulon Montgomery Pike and John C. Fremont; and master surveyors Stephen Harriman Long and John Wesley Powell. Their incredible stories cannot help but enthrall and inspire modern readers. - from Amzon