What ever happened to the legend of El Dorado, the tale of the mythical city of gold lost in the Amazon jungle? Charlotte Rogers argues that El Dorado has not been forgotten and still inspires the reckless pursuit of illusory wealth. The search for gold in South America during the colonial period inaugurated the "promise of El Dorado"—the belief that wealth and happiness can be found in the tropical forests of the Americas. That assumption has endured over the course of centuries, still evident in the various modes of natural resource extraction, such as oil drilling and mining, that characterize the region today. Mourning El Dorado looks at how fiction from the American tropics written since 1950 engages with the promise of El Dorado in the age of the Anthropocene. Just as the golden kingdom was never found, natural resource extraction has not produced wealth and happiness for the peoples of the tropics. While extractivism enriches a few outsiders, it results in environmental degradation and the subjugation, displacement, and forced assimilation of native peoples. This book considers how the fiction of five writers—Alejo Carpentier, Wilson Harris, Mario Vargas Llosa, Álvaro Mutis, and Milton Hatoum—criticizes extractive practices and mourns the lost illusion of the forest as a place of wealth and happiness.

In this engaging book, the oft-told narrative of Sir Walter Raleigh is blown apart through the chance discovery of hitherto neglected correspondence in a Swedish archive. In place of a deceitful and scheming Raleigh, Sellin paints a picture of man executed on trumped-up charges by those hoping to profit from the very gold mine they claimed he had invented. It will be of interest not only to specialists of the period, but to anyone with a sense of the romance of history.

A magical retelling of the myth of Eldorado, by Brazil's greatest writer. The Enchanted City has inhabited the fevered dreams of many European navigators and consquisitadores, but all have been unable to find it on the map.

The Gilded Man is one of the best works in the field of history by the Adolph Francis . Its one of the vintage collection by the Adolph Francis .

Heart of Darkness is often considered the world’s best short novel. The book serves as a bridge between the 19th century and modernism, an adventure tale revolving around the ambiguity of themes such as truth, morality, and evil. Joseph Conrad witnessed the European exploitation of the Congo with his own eyes. He once sailed up the Congo River himself to locate a countryman at a trading station deep within the country – even though this man wasn't named Kurtz. The goal and enigma of the journey have become synonymous with this name, one of the most unforgettable fictional characters of our time. JOSEPH CONRAD [1857–1924] was born in Ukraine to Polish parents, went to sea at the age of seventeen, and ended his career as a captain in the English merchant navy. His most famous work is the novella Heart of Darkness [1899], adapted into a film by Francis Ford Coppola in 1979 as Apocalypse Now.

The Book of Buried Treasure is a historical account of pirates and piracy, containing true stories of some of the most notorious buccaneers, their heists and robberies and the pirate gold that is lost forever. The book is written by American journalist and adventurer Ralph D. Paine who was indicted for piracy with a capital crime, after sailing on a boat that was smuggling munitions._x000D_ Table of Contents:_x000D_ The World-Wide Hunt for Vanished Riches_x000D_ Captain Kidd in Fact and Fiction_x000D_ Captain Kidd, His Treasure_x000D_ Captain Kidd, His Trial, and Death_x000D_ The Wondrous Fortune of William Phips_x000D_ The Bold Sea Rogue, John Quelch_x000D_ The Armada Galleon of Tobermory Bay_x000D_ The Lost Plate Fleet of Vigo_x000D_ The Pirates' Hoard of Trinidad_x000D_ The Lure of Cocos Island_x000D_ The Mystery of the Lutine Frigate_x000D_ The Toilers of the Thetis_x000D_ The Quest of El Dorado_x000D_ The Wizardry of the Divining Rod_x000D_ Sundry Pirates and Their Booty_x000D_ Practical Hints for Treasure Seekers

"In this wickedly humorous book, Geoffrey Abbott describes the effectiveness of instruments of torture and reveals the macabre origins of familiar phrases such as 'gone west' or 'drawn a blank'. Covering everything from the preparation of the victim to the disposal of the body 'What a Way to Go' is everything you ever wanted to know about the ultimate penalty--and a lot you never thought to ask."--Publisher's description