Hi all, apologies for the slightly mysterious title; I'm here to look for recommendations on a very specific sort of book which I don't believe I can describe adequately in a short sequence of words. I am looking for accounts of individuals who explored, or even made a home out of (though I'd prefer a focus on exploration), a 'wild' frontier of their time. The American West would be a notable example, though I'm happy to read about other places, too; the exploits of Empire-era British explorers is an exciting example that springs to mind. I'd like a book that portrays the sense of adventure associated with this lifestyle, though I'd also like it to be a non-fiction, genuine account of what happened (a bit of bluster is fine, and I know we can't verify whether everything happened or didn't). Bonus points would be for those accounts by people who possess a level of verbal eloquence, and those texts in which the person was there with a specific purpose – say, surveying a piece of land or looking for fossils (this last idea, though purely a suggestion, especially excites me). In this book, I'd like to hear about the views and perspectives of their time; the time itself would ideally be the early 20th century and before, though there's a little bit of flexibility for later on.
by probablynewaccount