First appearing in 1919, “South: The Endurance Expedition” is the gripping account of those who traveled with Sir Ernest Shackleton on his third expedition to Antarctica. In August1914, Shackleton set out with a crew of twenty-eight aboard the ship “Endurance” in an effort to become the first men to cross the vast Antarctic land mass, a grand plan that was given the lofty title “The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.” At the same time the “End ...
Collected in this edition is the early autobiographical fragment written by Charles Darwin in 1838 along with his official autobiography which was first published in 1887, five years after his death. His controversial theory of evolution, which asserted that all of life on earth descended from common ancestors through a process of natural selection, subjected him to much criticism in his lifetime but would ultimately place him amongst the most i ...
“Ecco Homo: How One Becomes What One Is” is an insightful reflection by Friedrich Nietzsche upon his own life and his impact on the world of philosophy. The work, the last original work he wrote, was written in 1888, weeks before the onset of the insanity that would plague him until his death in 1900. Not published until 1908, “Ecce Homo” is an autobiography of sorts and Nietzsche offers his personal perspective and criticism on his various phil ...
Geronimo, one of the greatest Apache warriors and American legends, gives his first-hand account of his life in his autobiography “My Life”. The famous chief orally told his story to S. M. Barrett, a Superintendent of Education in Oklahoma, and Barrett published the book with little to no deviations from Geronimo’s interview. This is extraordinary, considering the many contemporary propaganda campaigns created against Geronimo in an attempt to r ...
First published in 1860, “Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom”, by William and Ellen Craft, is the fascinating true story of their escape from slavery in Georgia. Ellen was born into slavery in 1826 in Clinton, Georgia. As a result of her mother being a mixed-race slave and her father being a wealthy white plantation master, Ellen closely resembled her white half-siblings. William Craft was also born in Georgia and first met Ellen when he was 1 ...
First published in 1910, “Twenty Years at Hull House” is the story of the Hull House settlement in Chicago written by its co-founder Jane Addams. The settlement movement, which gained popularity first in London at the end of the 19th century, soon spread to the United States and was principally concerned with improving the lives of the urban poor by providing opportunities for higher education and essential social services. Hull House was founde ...
While he is best known for being the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt is also remembered for his immense love of nature, animals, and game hunting. “African Game Trails” is Roosevelt’s memoirs about a hunting trip to Africa that he took with his son Kermit in 1908. In the text, he vividly describes the country in exotic detail, depicting the enthusiastic thrill of the hunt, as well as the beauty of the animals he tracked. ...
First published in 1840, “Two Years Before the Mast” is the true story of Richard Henry Dana’s voyage aboard the merchant vessel the “Pilgrim” on a trip around Cape Horn during the years 1834 to 1836. Dana was a student at Harvard when a case of the measles affected his vision. He left school and enlisted as a sailor on a merchant vessel, believing that the experience might help his eyesight. Dana kept a diary during his adventures and he intend ...
“The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau” is a one-of-a-kind autobiography. Up until its publication in 1782, only two autobiographies had ever been written, and both were written by devout religious saints. Highly scandalous yet witty in nature, calling Rousseau’s work an “autobiography” is a loose categorization of the text, as many of the stories and tales have been proven false, yet Rousseau told the truth about the spirit of his life throu ...
