I Married Adventure

Before Joy Adamson went to Africa, before Margaret Mead sailed to Samoa, before Dian Fossey was even born, a Kansas teenager named Osa Leighty married Martin Johnson, a pioneering photographer just back from a 'round-the-world cruise with Jack London. Together the Johnsons flew and sailed to Borneo, to Kenya, and to the Congo, filming Simba and other popular nature movies with Martin behind the camera and Osa holding her rifle at the ready in case the scene's big game star should turn hostile. This bestselling memoir retraces their careers in rich detail, with precisely observed descriptions and often heart-stopping anecdotes. Illustrated with scores of the dramatic photos that made the Johnsons famous, it's a book sure to delight every lover of true adventure.

Osa Johnson's memoir details her adventures alongside her husband Martin, an explorer and pioneering photographer. These two kids from Kansas sailed to Borneo, Kenya, and the Congo in the early part of the 20th century, where, with Martin holding the camera and Osa wielding the gun, they documented the indigenous people and wildlife they encountered in groundbreaking films such as Among the Cannibals of the South Pacific (1918) and Simba (1928). Osa's engaging and exciting text is complemented by scores of the dramatic black-and-white photos that made the couple famous. After Martin's death in 1937, Osa continued their work alone, I Married Adventure was first published in 1940 and became the bestselling nonfiction book of that year.