Women Travelers A Century of Trailblazing Adventures 1850-1950

by Lapierre, Alexandra; Mouchard, Christel

• ISBN13: 9782080300188
• ISBN10: 2080300180
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-10-16
• Publisher: Flammarion

Summary

An award-winning novelist brings to life the stories of the greatest women adventurers in history. From deserts and jungles to mountains and icebergs, they faced unimaginable dangers as they crossed all five continents, often armed with little more than a corset and an umbrella. Spanning a decade, this book mixes triumph and tragedy. The featured women include Fanny Vandegrift, the wife of Robert Louis Stevenson, who ventured all the way from Indiana to Samoa, and Nellie Bly, journalist and social reformer, who went around the world in seventy-two days. The thirty-one women celebrated here hail from fourteen countries and traveled to the farthest reaches of our planet. Twice as brave as their male counterparts, in the face of social convention, these women set off into the unknown. Their bold journeys across the globe had long-lasting effects on the role and status of women in society, and they made important contributions to disciplines as varied as medicine, archeology, and anthropology.

Author Biography

Alexandra Lapierre has won international acclaim for her writing. Her works have been widely translated and she has received numerous awards, including the Honorary Award of the Association of American University Women. She earned an MFA degree in 1981 from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.Christel Mouchard is the author of many works about women explorers in her native French.

Table of Contents

Why They Set Out	p. 4
Out Of The Ordinary: Before 1850	p. 6
Catalina de Erauso: Spanish	p. 10
Aphra Behn: English	p. 14
Isabel Godin des Odonais: French-Peruvian	p. 18
Trekking In Crinolines: 1850-90	p. 22
How They Survived	p. 24
The Blessings of a Good Thick Skirt	p. 28
Ida Pfeiffer: Austrian	p. 30
Alexine Tinne: Dutch	p. 36
Mary Seacole: Jamaican	p. 44
Florence Baker: Hungarian	p. 52
Isabella Bird: Scottish	p. 58
May French-Sheldon: American	p. 64
Marianne North: English	p. 70
Jane Dieulafoy: French	p. 74
Fanny Stevenson: American	p. 82
Mary Kingsley: Englsh	p. 88
Fanny Bullock Workman: American	p. 94
Between Two Worlds: 1890-18	p. 100
Why They Wrote	p. 102
With the Tip of a Parasol	p. 102
Gertrude Bell: English	p. 108
Margaret Fountain: English	p. 116
Daisy Bates: Irish	p. 122
Nellie Bly: American	p. 130
Isabelle Eberhardt: Swiss-Russian-French	p. 136
Charmain Kittredge: American	p. 142
Alexandra David-Neel: French	p. 150
Free and Easy: 1918-50	p. 158
The Way They Loved	p. 160
A Scent of Liberty	p. 164
Freya Stark: English	p. 166
Karen Blixen: Danish	p. 172
Evelyn Cheesman: English	p. 180
Rosita Forbes: English	p. 186
Margaret Mead: American	p. 192
Ella Maillart: Swiss	p. 200
Osa Johnson: American	p. 208
Odette du Puigaudeau: French	p. 214
Anita Conti: French	p. 220
Emily Hahn: American	p. 228
Indefatigable!	p. 234
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.