Award-winning popular culture scholar and expert, Gary Hoppenstand, assembles a collection of essays published over the past few decades that examine a vast array of popular adventure fiction. Hoppenstand examines the cultural and literary impact of these great works of entertainment, often presenting forgotten classics in a new light.

Table of Contents Preface Introduction: A Brief Story of Adventure Power and Politics as Adventure: Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses The Swashbuckling Pirate as Rebel Hero: Rafael Sabatini’s Captain Blood: His Odyssey Justified Bloodshed and the Origins of the Vigilante Hero:Robert Montgomery Bird’s Nick of the Woods The Romance of Adventure: Baroness Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel Revolution and Revenge: Rafael Sabatini’s Scaramouche Empires in Decline: C.J. Cutcliffe Hyne’s The Lost Continent: The Story of Atlantis The Ruritanian Romance: Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda Science Fantasy and the Adventure Story: Edwin L. Arnold’s Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation Empire and the Bright Face of Danger: A.E.W. Mason’s The Four Feathers Soldiering for Fortune: Robert E. Howard’s “The Treasures of Tartary” Mystery as Adventure: Elizabeth Peters’ The Last Camel Died at Noon Redemption and Honor: P.C. Wren’s Beau Geste Popular Fiction as Thriller Propaganda: Ian Fleming’s From Russia, with Love Dinosaur Doctors and Jurassic Geniuses: The Changing Image of the Scientist Adventurer in the Lost World Adventure Bibliography Index