Traveling in the wake of intelligent and intrepid women travelers such as Isabella Bird and Mary Kingsley, Helen Cameron Gordon spent most of her life wandering the globe and writing about her experiences in a publishing career that spanned almost thirty years. From her first travel book, A Woman in the Sahara (1914), to her last, West Indian Scenes (1942), readers are witness to the changes that travelers and travel writers encountered during the first half of the century as technology altered the world and the way it was experienced. Throughout her long career Gordon revealed herself as a natural traveler, disregarding discomforts and unexpected mishaps with unassuming friendliness, curiosity, and humor. Well-educated and a talented linguist, Gordon was also a keen observer, fascinated by the myths, legends, and languages of different cultures. Incorporating aspects of travel memoir, popular history, and ethnographic study, Gordon's works transcend traditional genres and create...