American Trailblazers

Among the most fascinating figures from America's past are the men and women who performed some singular feat that's been completely overlooked or that gets only a bare mention in the history books of today. Written by longtime National Geographic editor Paul Martin, AMERICAN TRAILBLAZERS celebrates a few of these remarkable people, all of whom left an enduring imprint on their time through their milestone innovations or inspirational accomplishments. The book's thirty-two chapters are divided into two groups representing the fields in which the characters excelled-Culture and Society or Science and Industry. The subjects come from every period in our nation's history and all walks of life-from humanitarians, adventurers, and entertainers to political figures, inventors, and entrepreneurs. What makes them worthy of note are their memorable life stories. Many of these individuals could be deemed heroes, others colorful iconoclasts. One or two might even be considered controversial, although their attainments were important nonetheless. They range from fearless Quaker housewife Mary Dyer, who was hanged in Massachusetts in 1660 while fighting for religious freedom, to H. Edward Roberts, the father of the personal computer, a maverick who sold his successful electronics company to study medicine and become a Georgia country doctor. From the pregnant nineteen-year-old heroine who took command of a clipper ship in distress in the dangerous waters off Cape Horn to the scientist who invented modern forensic toxicology, these rare individualists fix themselves firmly in our imagination with their mesmerizing stories. Critics have praised Martin's two previous collections of biographical profiles-SECRET HEROES (HarperCollins, 2012) and VILLAINS, SCOUNDRELS, AND ROGUES (Prometheus Books, 2014): "Martin doesn't know the meaning of the word boring."-SAN FRANCISCO BOOK REVIEW. "A model of how to write short popular history."-BOOKLIST. "Inspirational yarns of exceptional folks."-KIRKUS REVIEWS. "Meticulously researched."-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. "Wildly entertaining."-BAKER & TAYLOR FORECAST. "Makes history joyous."-Best-selling author Thomas C. Foster.