When the Going Was Good

"Escape with the 99 best narratives of travel, exploration, and adventure of all time, including accounts of hunting, sailing, mountaineering, war reportage, and plant and animal collecting. From the second century Greco-Roman traveler, Pausanias, who compiled an invaluable guide to Greece, to such contemporary figures as Patrick Leigh Fermor, armchair travelers will be delighted to find hundreds of books, new and old, to explore. This guide to the literature considers popular favorites like Frances Mayes and twentieth-century masters of this genre, Norman Douglas and Lawrence Durrell. Other notable writers include naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, archaeologist Aurel Stein, explorer Ernest Shackleton, plant collector David Fairchild, Japanese poet Basho, dashing British army officer Fred Burnaby, and smuggler Henri de Monfreid.". "Covering each book and its author in detail, When the Going Was Good suggests the best editions for readers, lists other travel books by the author, identifies further sources of information, and recommends other travel books set in the same part of the world."--BOOK JACKET.