Böcker av Gary L. Pinkerton

Harry E. Rieseberg's autobiographical writings include stories like being attacked by a giant octopus while recovering sunken treasure, defending himself from an attack by a 15-foot shark with only a diving knife, and surviving a hurricane and a severely broken leg while at sea--all captivating tales for audiences in the 1940s and 1950s, and all invented by a very successful charlatan. This is a biography of Harry E. Rieseberg, a shameless self-promoter who passed himself off as the world's greatest treasure salvor but who never got wet. His entire public persona was based on stories he retold in dozens of books and thousands of articles in which he made claims of feats that were fantasy but sold as fact. Despite the often-obvious facts of his fabrication, his books influenced a generation of legitimate divers and underwater archaeologists like Sir Robert Marx and Robert Stenuit. Thoroughly researched, this book uses sources including his personal records and letters to his agents to provide deep insight into the nature of his life and the way he created a false persona for popular consumption.

Trammel's Trace, named for Nicholas Trammell, was the first route from the United States into the northern boundaries of Spanish Texas. From the Great Bend of the Red River it intersected with El Camino Real de los Tejas in Nacogdoches. This volume tells its history.