Description: C.D.B. Bryan's brilliant centennial history of the National Geographic Society - essentially tracing the story of exploration, science, and discovery in the 20th century - sold nearly a million copies a decade ago. All of the text and photographs from the original book are here just as they first appeared, along with two new chapters by C.D.B. Bryan and some forty new color photographs. This new material tells of dramatic changes in the editorship of the Magazine and in the leadership of the Society. Bryan documents a variety of innovations, and explores the new contributions that the Society has made to education in geography and a revitalized return to an age-old theme - the excitement of exploration. Bryan's lively and intimate text derives from in-depth interviews with key personnel - writers, photographers, editors - and contact with many of the scientists and explorers whose work was sponsored by the Society. He had free access to the Society's remarkable archives, which go back to Robert E. Peary's efforts to reach the North Pole; Hiram Bingham's startling discovery of Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas; Reinhold Messner's superhuman solo climb to the summit of Mt. Everest; and countless other records of achievement.

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