10 Best History Books Navigating The Unknown Worlds In The Age Of Exploration
Dive headfirst into an era where the map ended at the horizon and monsters hid in distant, unexplored waters. Enter the Age of Exploration, a riveting period, ripe with danger, discovery, and human desire. Get ready, folks, because today we're offering up a mouthwatering list of the 10 best history books that navigate these unknown worlds.
Unearth the riveting tales of explorers who defied the known limits of their world, trekking through uncharted lands and sailing across mysterious seas. Each book captures the essence of these mariners, conquistadors, and navigators who had their sights set on the unseen, fueled by dreams of gold, glory, and new worlds. A realm where the resolve, courage, and greed of a few disrupted the lives of millions, irrevocably altering the course of history.
Every work on this list transports you to a time of wondrous uncertainty—the wild, wild ocean, where each new dawn could bring unimagined wealth or unspeakable terror. We're talking about authentic accounts, gritty tales of survival, and deeply humanistic stories that chart the fallacies and feats of mankind. So, pack up, brave the high seas, cut down through dense jungles and gear up for an adventure that will take you back, around the globe, and keep you on the edge of your seat. Buckle up, reader. It's going to be one hell of a ride!
『A Man on the Moon』
"The authoritative masterpiece" (L. A. Times) on the Apollo space program and NASA's journey to the moon This acclaimed portrait of heroism and ingenuity captures a watershed moment in human history. The astronauts themselves have called it the definitive account of their missions. On the night of July 20, 1969, our world changed forever when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. Based on in-depth interviews with twenty-three of the twenty-four moon voyagers, as well as those who struggled to get the program moving, A Man on the Moon conveys every aspect of the Apollo missions with breathtaking immediacy and stunning detail. A Man on the Moon is also the basis for the acclaimed miniseries produced by Tom Hanks, From the Earth to the Moon, now airing and streaming again on HBO in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.
Author | Andrew Chaikin |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Penguin |
Release Date | Aug 28, 2007 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Lost City of the Monkey God』
The #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, named one of the best books of the year by The Boston Globe and National Geographic: acclaimed journalist Douglas Preston takes readers on a true adventure deep into the Honduran rainforest in this riveting narrative about the discovery of a lost civilization -- culminating in a stunning medical mystery. Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the rainforest with hundreds of artifacts and an electrifying story of having found the Lost City of the Monkey God-but then committed suicide without revealing its location. Three quarters of a century later, bestselling author Doug Preston joined a team of scientists on a groundbreaking new quest. In 2012 he climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying the machine that would change everything: lidar, a highly advanced, classified technology that could map the terrain under the densest rainforest canopy. In an unexplored valley ringed by steep mountains, that flight revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undiscovered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization. Venturing into this raw, treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful wilderness to confirm the discovery, Preston and the team battled torrential rains, quickmud, disease-carrying insects, jaguars, and deadly snakes. But it wasn't until they returned that tragedy struck: Preston and others found they had contracted in the ruins a horrifying, sometimes lethal-and incurable-disease. Suspenseful and shocking, filled with colorful history, hair-raising adventure, and dramatic twists of fortune, THE LOST CITY OF THE MONKEY GOD is the absolutely true, eyewitness account of one of the great discoveries of the twenty-first century.
Author | Douglas Preston |
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Price | $11.99 |
Publisher | Grand Central Publishing |
Release Date | Jan 03, 2017 |
Source | Google Books |
『The White Nile』
Relive all the thrills and adventure of Alan Moorehead's classic bestseller The White Nile -- the daring exploration of the Nile River in the second half of the nineteenth century, which was at that time the most mysterious and impenetrable region on earth. Capturing in breathtaking prose the larger-than-life personalities of such notable figures as Stanley, Livingstone, Burton and many others, The White Nile remains a seminal work in tales of discovery and escapade, filled with incredible historical detail and compelling stories of heroism and drama.
Author | Alan Moorehead |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Harper Collins |
Release Date | Oct 17, 2000 |
Source | Google Books |
『Endurance』
Describes how the ship of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton became immobilized by ice for 10-months on his 1914 expedition to Antarctica, resulting in an 850-mile journey back to civilization with only a skeleton crew remaining. 60,000 first printing.
Author | Alfred Lansing |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Basic Books a Member of Perseus Books Group |
Release Date | Apr 29, 2014 |
Source | Google Books |
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Price | unknown |
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Source | Google Books |
『In the Kingdom of Ice』
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A white-knuckle tale of polar exploration and heroism in the Gilded Age from the New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers. • “A splendid book in every way…a marvelous nonfiction thriller.” —The Wall Street Journal On July 8, 1879, Captain George Washington De Long and his team of thirty-two men set sail from San Francisco on the USS Jeanette. Heading deep into uncharted Arctic waters, they carried the aspirations of a young country burning to be the first nation to reach the North Pole. Two years into the harrowing voyage, the Jeannette's hull was breached by an impassable stretch of pack ice, forcing the crew to abandon ship amid torrents of rushing of water. Hours later, the ship had sunk below the surface, marooning the men a thousand miles north of Siberia, where they faced a terrifying march with minimal supplies across the endless ice pack. Enduring everything from snow blindness and polar bears to ferocious storms and labyrinths of ice, the crew battled madness and starvation as they struggled desperately to survive. With thrilling twists and turns, In The Kingdom of Ice is a spellbinding tale of heroism and determination in the most brutal place on Earth.
Author | Hampton Sides |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Vintage |
Release Date | May 26, 2015 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Lost City of Z』
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager comes a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction “with all the pace and excitement of a movie thriller”(The New York Times) that unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century—the story of the legendary British explorer who ventured into the Amazon jungle in search of a fabled civilization and never returned. "[Grann is] one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."—New York Magazine After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed writer David Grann set out to determine what happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest for the Lost City of Z. For centuries Europeans believed the Amazon, the world’s largest rain forest, concealed the glittering kingdom of El Dorado. Thousands had died looking for it, leaving many scientists convinced that the Amazon was truly inimical to humankind. In 1925 Fawcett ventured into the Amazon to find an ancient civilization, hoping to make one of the most important discoveries in history. Then he vanished. Over the years countless perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called “The Lost City of Z.” In this masterpiece, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett’s quest for “Z” and his own journey into the deadly jungle. Look for David Grann’s latest bestselling book, The Wager!
Author | David Grann |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Vintage |
Release Date | Jan 26, 2010 |
Source | Google Books |
『The River of Doubt』
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait—the bestselling author of River of the Gods brings us the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth. “A rich, dramatic tale that ranges from the personal to the literally earth-shaking.” —The New York Times The River of Doubt—it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron. After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer, Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever. Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived. From the soaring beauty of the Amazon rain forest to the darkest night of Theodore Roosevelt’s life, here is Candice Millard’s dazzling debut. Look for Candice Millard’s latest book, River of the Gods.
Author | Candice Millard |
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Price | $14.99 |
Publisher | Anchor |
Release Date | Dec 16, 2009 |
Source | Google Books |
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Price | unknown |
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Source | Google Books |
『The Voyage of the Beagle』
The Voyage of the Beagle is a title commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his Journal and Remarks, bringing him considerable fame and respect. The title refers to the second survey expedition of the ship HMS Beagle, which set sail from Plymouth Sound on 27 December 1831 under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy, R.N.. While the expedition was originally planned to last two years, it lasted almost five-the Beagle did not return until 2 October 1836. Darwin spent most of this time exploring on land (three years and three months on land; 18 months at sea). The book, also known as Darwin's Journal of Researches, is a vivid and exciting travel memoir as well as a detailed scientific field journal covering biology, geology, and anthropology that demonstrates Darwin's keen powers of observation, written at a time when Western Europeans were exploring and charting the whole world.
Author | Charles Darwin |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | CreateSpace |
Release Date | Jun 12, 2015 |
Source | Google Books |
In wrapping up, the impressive list of books I've shared today paints quite the fascinating imagery of humanity's relentless quest for the unknown. Each page transports you back to an era when the world map was just a sketch and many brave souls set sail to the looming mystery that lay ahead. They truly were the trailblazers, the explorers, pushing the boundaries, challenging the unknown, and charting our course through history! Let these books unravel the thrilling happenings of the Age of Exploration right from the comfort of your favorite reading nook. These are not mere history books, folks. They are exciting narratives filled with adventures, ambitions, triumphs, and, of course, gory bits of the human struggle. Begin your journey with these gems, and you'll find that history is far more captivating than you've ever imagined. Happy reading, fellow history buffs! After all, it's never too late to venture into uncharted territories, even if it is through ink and parchment.
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