Explorers

One of the great joys of being human is the joy of finding. Whether as a child you "discovered" the creek in your back yard, or as an adult you realized the road you always neglected was really a shortcut to work, uncovering new things can be downright exhilarating. Unless, of course, you uncover bad things, a situation many of the great explorers have found themselves in too often.

That doesn't keep them from seeking new territories, foreign rivers, inland passages—in fact, it's almost as if hardship and defeat spur them on to greater feats and attempts. Ernest Shackleton's trip to the South Pole was disaster upon cataclysm, but with each difficulty the crew's resolve became deeper and more determined. Shackleton and his men couldn't not explore: it was in their blood.

Now that we've been everywhere and done everything, exploration might seem like an anachronism. Man has climbed Mt. Everest, submarined to the deepest eel-infested parts of the ocean, and walked on the moon—what's a canoe trip down the Amazon or a stroll through the Outback? Maybe not much from that perspective, but when the whole big world is still unknown and largely inhospitable, shouldering a pack and a rifle and heading into the unknown takes one thing our age has precious little of: guts.

A lot of exploration was undertaken by missionaries eager to take the Word of God to every tribe and nation. The darker side of that is the European politicos who followed behind to exploit natural resources, native peoples, and each other. Either way, the story of exploration is a fascinating one, and a must-read if you expect to understand the current world economic and political situation.

Even more compelling than the story of exploration, however, is the story of the explorers themselves. Exploration is a picture painted with broad strokes, but when presenting the men themselves the artist must show the details, each weakness and virtue, each fear and desire, that made them brave scorpions, bloodthirsty hunters, desert sands, snow and ice, sickness, and death in the name of discovery.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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51 Items found Print
Active Filters: 9th grade (Ages 14-15)
Admiral of the Ocean Sea
by Samuel E. Morison
from Atlantic Monthly Press
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in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
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Admiral Richard Byrd
Sterling Point Books
by Paul Rink
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Historical non-fiction for 5th-9th grade
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
Adventures and Discoveries of Marco Polo
World Landmark #3
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All That Glitters
Perspectives on History Series
by Phyllis Raybin Emert
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Amelia Earhart
Sterling Point Books
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from Sterling Publishing Co.
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Balboa: Swordsman and Conquistador
World Landmark #25
by Felix Riesenberg, Jr.
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Book of Discovery
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from Yesterday's Classics
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in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$20.95
Book of Famous Explorers
Young Folks Library
by Edwin Erle Sparks, editor
from Auxiliary Educational League
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Captain Edward L. Beach: Around the World Under Water
by Beril Becker
from Kingston House
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Christopher Columbus
by John Abbott
from A Beka Books
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Christopher Columbus
by Samuel Eliot Morison
from Dorset Press
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Cortes and the Aztec Conquest
by Irwin R. Blacker
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
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Danger in the Desert
by Roger Cohen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
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Daniel Boone: The Opening of the Wilderness
Landmark #21
by John Mason Brown
from Random House
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Davy Crockett
Landmark #57
by Stewart H. Holbrook
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Discoverers of the New World
by Joseph Berger
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Endurance
by Alfred Lansing
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Endurance
by Caroline Alexander
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$12.00 (2 in stock)
Explorers, Missionaries, and Trappers
by Kieran Doherty
from Oliver-Nelson Books
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in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Ferdinand Magellan
World Landmark #31
by Seymour Gates Pond
from Random House
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Four Voyages
by Christopher Columbus
from Penguin Classics
Historical Primary Sources for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$17.00
Great Adventurers of the Twentieth Century
by Ron Tagliapietra
from Bob Jones University Press
Biography Anthologies for 8th-Adult
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$12.95
Henry M. Stanley
Lives to Remember
by Robert Edmond Alter
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
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$18.00 (1 in stock)
Jim Bridger, Mountain Man
by Stanley Vestal
from Bison Books
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Journey and Ordeal of Cabeza de Vaca
Dover editions
by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
from Dover Publications
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in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$10.95
Life of Christopher Columbus
by Edward Everett Hale
from Living Book Press
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$9.99
Log of Christopher Columbus
by Christopher Columbus, translated by Robert Fuson
1992 Printing from International Marine / McGraw-Hill
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
Luck of the La Verendryes
by Lyn Harrington
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
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in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
Magellan
by Michael Burgan
from Compass Point Books
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in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Mission Control, This Is Apollo
by Andrew Chaikin, Victoria Kohl
from Viking Press
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Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West
by LeRoy R. Hafen & Harvey L. Carter
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
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Mrs. Chippy's Last Expedition
by Caroline Alexander
from Harper Perennial
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Nansen
by Anna Gertrude Hall, illustrated by Boris Artzybasheff
from Viking Press
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1941 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Path to the Pacific
Sterling Point Books
by Neta Lohnes Frazier
from Sterling Publishing Co.
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in Lewis & Clark (Location: HISA-19L&C)
Samuel De Champlain
by Samuel E. Morison
from Little, Brown & Company
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in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Sir Walter Raleigh and the Quest for El Dorado
by Marc Aronson
from Clarion Books
for 7th-9th grade
2001 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$21.99 $12.00 (2 in stock)
South Sea Shilling
by Eric Swenson
First Edition from Viking Press
for 7th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Christopher Columbus
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #2
by Nina Brown Baker, illustrated by David Hendrickson
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Leif Ericson
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #30
by William O. Steele, illustrated by Pranas Lapé
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Marco Polo
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #22
by Olive Price, illustrated by Frederico Castellon
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Polar Conquest
by Logan Marshall, ed.
from Vision Forum
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in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Stout-Hearted Seven
Sterling Point
by Neta Lohnes Frazier
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Non-fiction/Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Oregon Trail (Location: HISA-19OR)
They Saw America First
by John Bakeless, Katherine Bakeless
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 4th-9th grade
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Travels of Marco Polo
by Marco Polo
from Orion Press
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Travels of Marco Polo
by Marion Koenig, illustrated by Mario Logli & Gabriele Santini
from Golden Press
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Truth About Sacajawea
by Kenneth Thomasma
from Grandview Publishing Company
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Voyages of Henry Hudson
World Landmark #54
by Eugene Rachlis
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
We Claimed This Land
by Eugene E. Snyder
from Binford & Mort Publishing
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in Pacific States (Location: HISV-PNW)
William Penn
by Catherine Owens Peare
from University of Michigan Press
for 9th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
World of Columbus and Sons
by Genevieve Foster
from Beautiful Feet Books
History Reference for 7th-10th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
World of Columbus and Sons
by Genevieve Foster, edited by Rea Berg
Edited from Beautiful Feet Books
History Reference for 7th-10th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$21.95