Women Into the Unknown: A Sourcebook on Women Explorers and Travelers

(Hardback)

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Description

Tinling has written a book about the exploration and derring-do of 42 women who, individually or with another, ventured forth to parts unknown or little known in the 19th and 20th centuries. . . . The accomplishment of each is sketched in biographical form that will variously intrigue, interest, and fascinate readers of varied persuasions. Choice Despite social restraints and limited financial resources, women have traveled in the past two centuries to virtually every unexplored region of the earth, sometimes with a male companion and often leading their own expeditions. In this book, Tinling offers portraits of some forty-five enterprising and intrepid women who have explored uncharted territory investigating the lives and customs of remote human societies, study rare plants and wild animals, or excavating the ruins of ancient civilizations. The subjects include English, American, and continental European women. In addition to detailed biographical essays, the author presents comprehensive bibliographical data on the published and unpublished works of the subjects and the articles and books that have been written about them. The explorations of these women have yielded impressive contributions to many areas of knowledge, including geography, archaeology, botany, zoology, and anthropology, as well as sensitive accounts of travel and discovery. Each of the biographical sketches supplies a chronological listing of the subject's writings and a list of chief bibliographical sources. The volume concludes with an annotated list of travel books by women in the English language, a general bibliography, and an index. This book is an appropriate resource for studies in women's history, geography, social history, and anthropology, and an appealing choice for women readers with an interest in travel and biography.

Reviews

This book features the lives of 45 19th and 20th-century American and European (including British) women who devoted their lives to the exploration of remote areas of Asia, South America, Africa, and the Pacific in search of unknown societies and tribes, archaelogical ruins, plants, animals, or just plain adventure. Their published travel accounts and the example of their adventures inspired generations of women to undertake journeys to areas previously considered closed to women. For each woman featured there is a detailed biographical essay, a bibliography of their published and unpublished works, as well as a listing of books and articles written about them. A valuable compilation.-Library Journal
Tinling has written a book about the exploration and derring-do of 42 women who, individually, or with another, ventured forth to parts unknown or little known in the 19th and 20th centuries. The women were selected because they have published books of travel in the English language. Included in Tinling's book are essays about Isabella Lucy Bird Bishop, Lady Anne Blunt, Louise Boyd, Elspeth Huxley, Mary Kingsley, Ella Maillart, Annie Peck, Dame Freya Stark, and Fanny Workman, to name but a few. The accomplishment of each is sketched in biographical form that will variously intrigue, interest, and fascinate readers of varied persuasions. To each biographical sketch is added a bibliography of books by the traveler and works about' the traveler; there is also a 30 page selected list of exploration and travel books written by women. Nine maps are added to help the reader follow the journeyings of these explorers. A brief Selected Bibliography' and index complete a most interesting volume. Undergraduate and public libraries.-Choice
Women into the Unknown is, above all, a useful volume, but I mean useful' in its best sense. It combines a short biography of forty-two women explorers and travelers with a bibliography of works by and/or about them. . . . It contains good stories imaginatively in all sorts of ways.-Victorian Studies Association Newsletter
"This book features the lives of 45 19th and 20th-century American and European (including British) women who devoted their lives to the exploration of remote areas of Asia, South America, Africa, and the Pacific in search of unknown societies and tribes, archaelogical ruins, plants, animals, or just plain adventure. Their published travel accounts and the example of their adventures inspired generations of women to undertake journeys to areas previously considered closed to women. For each woman featured there is a detailed biographical essay, a bibliography of their published and unpublished works, as well as a listing of books and articles written about them. A valuable compilation."-Library Journal
"Women into the Unknown is, above all, a useful volume, but I mean useful' in its best sense. It combines a short biography of forty-two women explorers and travelers with a bibliography of works by and/or about them. . . . It contains good stories imaginatively in all sorts of ways."-Victorian Studies Association Newsletter
"Tinling has written a book about the exploration and derring-do of 42 women who, individually, or with another, ventured forth to parts unknown or little known in the 19th and 20th centuries. The women were selected because they have published books of travel in the English language. Included in Tinling's book are essays about Isabella Lucy Bird Bishop, Lady Anne Blunt, Louise Boyd, Elspeth Huxley, Mary Kingsley, Ella Maillart, Annie Peck, Dame Freya Stark, and Fanny Workman, to name but a few. The accomplishment of each is sketched in biographical form that will variously intrigue, interest, and fascinate readers of varied persuasions. To each biographical sketch is added a bibliography of books by the traveler and works about' the traveler; there is also a 30 page selected list of exploration and travel books written by women. Nine maps are added to help the reader follow the journeyings of these explorers. A brief Selected Bibliography' and index complete a most interesting volume. Undergraduate and public libraries."-Choice

Author Bio

MARION TINLING is a freelance writer based in Sacramento, California. She is the author of Women Remembered: A Guide to Landmarks of Women's History in the United States (Greenwood Press, 1986).