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The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale Of Love, Murder, And Survival In The Amazon

(Paperback)

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Publishing Details

Full Title:

The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale Of Love, Murder, And Survival In The Amazon

Contributors:

By (Author) Robert Whitaker

ISBN:

9780465057948

Publisher:

Basic Books

Imprint:

Basic Books

Publication Date:

1st March 2016

Country:

United States

Classifications

Readership:

General

Fiction/Non-fiction:

Non Fiction

Other Subjects:

Geographical discovery and exploration
History of the Americas

Dewey:

981.1032092

Physical Properties

Physical Format:

Paperback

Number of Pages:

368

Dimensions:

Width 142mm, Height 211mm, Spine 26mm

Weight:

380g

Description

In the early years of the 18th century, a band of French scientists set off on a daring, decade-long expedition to South America in a race to measure the precise shape of the earth. Like Lewis and Clark's exploration of the American West, their incredible mission revealed the mysteries of a little-known continent to a world hungry for discovery. Scaling 16,000foot mountains in the Peruvian Andes, and braving jaguars, pumas, insects, and vampire bats in the jungle, the scientists barely completed their mission. One was murdered, another perished from fever, and a third-Jean Godin-nearly died of heartbreak. At the expedition's end, Jean and his Peruvian wife, Isabel Grameson, became stranded at opposite ends of the Amazon, victims of a tangled web of international politics. Isabel's solo journey to reunite with Jean after their calamitous twenty-year separation was so dramatic that it left all of 18th-century Europe spellbound. Her survival-unprecedented in the annals of Amazon exploration-was a testament to human endurance, female resourcefulness, and the power of devotion.Drawing on the original writings of the French mapmakers, as well as his own experience retracing Isabel's journey, acclaimed writer Robert Whitaker weaves a riveting tale rich in adventure, intrigue, and scientific achievement. Never before told, The Mapmaker's Wife is an epic love story that unfolds against the backdrop of "the greatest expedition the world has ever known."

Author Bio

Robert Whitaker is the award-winning author of four books, including Anatomy of an Epidemic, which won the Investigative Reporters and Editors 2010 award for best investigative journalism, On the Laps of Gods, and Mad in America. His newspaper and magazine articles on the mentally ill and the pharmaceutical industry have garnered several national awards, including a George Polk Award for medical writing and a National Association of Science Writers Award for best magazine article. A series he co-wrote for the Boston Globe on the abuse of mental patients in research settings was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.

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