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Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific-Expedition and the Telegraph Line Commission

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Exploration, Memoirs
Chapter: 26 | Listen: 11

The Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition was the famous survey that took place in 1913-14 to follow the path of the Rio da Dúvida (“River of Doubt”) in the Amazon basin. The expedition was jointly led by Theodore Roosevelt, the former President of the United States, and Colonel Cândido Rondon, the Brazilian military engineer known for his explorations of the Western Amazon Basin and his lifelong support of Brazilian indigenous populations. Almost from the start, the expedition was fraught with problems: diseases left the explorers in a constant state of sickness; the canoes were unsuitable to the rapids and were lost; the food provisions were unsufficient, and the encounters with animals and wild native tribes, a source of concern. Of the 19 men who went on the expedition, only 16 returned. On October 1915, the Brazilian leader of the expedition, Colonel Cândido Rondon gave three public lectures in Rio de Janeiro, in which he offered his first hand account of the Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition and of his more encompassing work of laying telegraph lines across the wilderness of Brazil, allowing for the integration of the recent Republic. Throughout his life, Rondon laid over 4,000 miles of telegraph line through the jungles of Brazil, while opening roads, clearing lands, mapping the land, and establishing cordial relations with the Indians. He maintained contact with several indigenous peoples. In his lectures, translated into English soon after their publication in Portuguese, besides describing all the adventures of the exploration of the Amazon, also told by Roosevelt in […]

Winning of Barbara Worth

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Action & Adventure Fiction
Chapter: 38 | Listen: 4

This is a fairly substantial western, written in 1911 by Harold Bell Wright, then a major bestselling author. (His best-known novel is “The Shepherd of the Hills”) Strangely, the winning of Barbara Worth is a small part of the story, though she is one of the main characters. She was a foundling, discovered with her dying mother in the desert. She takes the name of her adopted father, Jefferson Worth. He is perhaps the main character; he is a capitalist, with very humanitarian qualities. He is pitted against other capitalists, ones with little concern for the good of the settlers attracted to the desert they are developing. The story concerns the efforts to reclaim the desert (Jaquinn Valley), by diverting waters of the Colorado River into canals that will make the land suitable for crops and cities. (Wright could not possibly have imagined the low water level of the Colorado River of today.) Wright wrote about capitalism vs. labor in several of his novels, and he does here. He often showed biased support for labor; however, he also showed a real effort to understand the role of each. In his time there were almost no regulations on capitalists, and there was, in fact, great abuses by the barons. This conflict is the heart of the story. But it is also a story of the loyalty of several employees of Jefferson Worth–loyalty, and love toward Worth, and also toward his adopted daughter. (A silent film of the book was Gary Cooper’s […]

Haunted Island

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Action & Adventure Fiction, Horror & Supernatural Fiction
Chapter: 33 | Listen: 2

Being the History of an Adventure to an Island in the Remote South Sea. Of a Wizard there. Of his Pirate Gang; His Treasure ; His Combustible; His Skeleton Antic Lad. Of his Wisdom; Of his Poesy; His Barbarous Cruelty ; His Mighty Power. Of a Volcan on the Island. And of the Ghostly Terror. – Summary by E. H. Visiak, from the Preface of The Haunted Island [chương_files]

Tarzan Twins

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Action & Adventure Fiction
Chapter: 12 | Listen: 6

Dick and Doc aren’t actual twins. They’re technically cousins, being the sons of twin sisters. But having been born on the same day and looking and behaving nearly exactly alike, they certainly feel more like twins than most. On the way to visit their cousin Lord Greystoke, also known as Tarzan, King of the Apes, in the wilds of Africa, their train derails and they wander off into the jungle for a little exploring, not realizing that they would soon find themselves lost and imperiled on an adventure of a lifetime! (Summary by Ben Tucker) [chương_files]

Minos of Sardanes

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Action & Adventure Fiction
Chapter: 11 | Listen: 2

The micro cosmos of Sardanes faces macro calamity as climatic disruption and social upheaval threaten its existence. Its inhabitants, an ancient race that has preserved a mythical culture through thousands of years in isolation, are doomed. But by virtue of their extraordinary deeds, an heroic couple, King Minos and his comely Queen Memene, might effect an escape. A relief expedition under the auspices of the American Geographic Society led by Zenas Wright and championed by Polaris Janess is on it’s way! And it might arrive in the nick of time! (Summary by Brian Fullen) [chương_files]

Owen Clancy’s Run Of Luck

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Action & Adventure Fiction, Crime & Mystery Fiction
Chapter: 13 | Listen: 2

Owen Clancy befriends a lad he saves from peril. He and his friend foil a nefarious plot. – Summary by Howard Skyman [chương_files]

Thrill Book Vol. I No. 1, March 1, 1919

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Action & Adventure Fiction, Fantastic Fiction
Chapter: 21 | Listen: 2

Thrill Book was a short-lived genre fiction precursor to Weird Tales featuring some of the same talent like Greye La Spina, Seabury Quinn, Clark Ashton Smith and Francis Stevens but with a somewhat broader scope that included crime and spy stories, westerns and adventure tales in addition to the sci-fi, fantasy and horror that Weird Tales was known for. In this first issue, marvel at the short story debut of noted Woman of Weird Fiction Greye La Spina! Thrill to the opening part of the lost race jungle adventure serial “In the Shadows of Race”! Sink into the curious doppelgänger tale “The Man Who Met Himself”! Be amazed at the mysterious and mystical tale of an ancient Egyptian curio in “The Jeweled Ibis”! All this and more! – Summary by Ben Tucker [chương_files]

Via Berlin

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Action & Adventure Fiction
Chapter: 29 | Listen: 5

From the Preface: “The veil of diplomacy screens many secrets—most of them for many years. But the veil is not impenetrable; from time to time a corner lifts, disclosing a fact long-suspected but never quite comprehended, a fact that fits into a history hitherto incomplete. So of this tale!” Relations between Germany and Japan vs. the United States are strained, and war is possible. A smoldering romance and tense international intrigue involve even the highest level of the U. S. government in this absorbing novel. [chương_files]

Travels in New Zealand with contributions to the geography, geology, botany, and natural history of that country, Vol. I

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Exploration, Nature, Travel & Geography
Chapter: 39 | Listen: 2

“Let the reader imagine a deep lake of a blue colour, surrounded by verdant hills; in the lake several islets, some showing the bare rock, others covered with shrubs, while on all of them steam issued from a hundred openings between the green foliage without impairing its freshness: on the opposite side a flight of broad steps of the colour of white marble with a rosy tint, and a cascade of boiling water falling over them into the lake!” Such is Ernest Dieffenbach’s description of his first glance of the White Terraces in Lake Rotomahana, see cover image. Johann Karl Ernst Dieffenbach (aka Ernest) traveled to New Zealand between 1839 and 1841 employed by the New Zealand Company as naturalist. He traveled in the Marlborough Sounds at the top of the South Island and extensively throughout the North Island at an early time in European settlement. In Volume I of “Travels in New Zealand” he describes his travels, integrating his observations of the natural world with the progress of colonisation, and a humane account of the Māori people that he met and their culture, settlements and inter-tribal politics. He made an important contribution to the early knowledge of the New Zealand flora and fauna, with his collections eventually being lodged in the British Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Note: Māori words have been pronounced as spelled in the text, which is occasionally different to modern spelling and pronunciation. (summary by Gail Timmerman-Vaughan) [chương_files]

Canoeing in the Wilderness

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Exploration, Nature
Chapter: 11 | Listen: 4

A highly descriptive and engaging narrative from one of America’s beloved nature writers, this short piece shows well Thoreau’s great love of the early American wilderness. Be transported to the deep woods of Maine and share in both Thoreau’s delight in nature and also his admiration of those others who have a deeper connection with the natural world around them. (Summary by Falassewen) [chương_files]