Explore Richard Henry Dana, Jr. books at New West Press.

Richard Henry Dana, Jr. writes about unfamiliar places through the immediate circumstances of travel and work. Two Years Before the Mast records life as a common sailor, with attention to shipboard labor, discipline, and the coast of California. To Cuba and Back offers a different journey and a different social setting. This collection brings the two accounts together under the author listed in the catalog as Richard Henry Dana. Readers can compare the changing position of the observer and the way firsthand encounters give each narrative its particular texture.

Travel writing brings landscapes, encounters, and the observer's personality into the same narrative. Following the route on a map can deepen a reader's sense of distance and place. It also helps to distinguish what the traveler witnessed from assumptions carried into unfamiliar surroundings. This selection offers an opportunity to read an older journey with both curiosity and historical perspective.