"The big cave sucked us in," write Borden and Brucker, and so begins their account (told in alternating first-person chapters) of the roles they played in extending Kentucky's Mammoth Cave from 144 miles in 1972 to over 300 miles in 1983. Generously illustrated with drawings and maps, their tale is both a history of spelunking and an underground adventure--for the non-claustrophobic--complete with competitive rivalries and physical peril. A sequel to The longest cave, by Brucker and Richard Watson (1973). Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

The dramatic story of several generations of cavers whose exciting and dangerous explorations in Kentucky's limestone labyrinths culminated in the big connection between the Flint Ridge Cave System and Mammoth Cave, forming the longest cave in the world.

Eighty-two square miles of rolling hills and valleys in south-central Kentucky make up Mammoth Cave National Park, one of four National Park units in the Commonwealth. Our 26th National Park is home to an enormous labyrinth of underground passages. In fact, Mammoth Cave today is understood to be the world's longest known cave system. Over 400 miles of passages have already been discovered, yet Mammoth Cave is not the only cavern in southern Kentucky. More than 300 other cave systems are known to exist within park boundaries, with many more beyond the reach of the national park. The discovery and exploitation of many of these created opportunity and prosperity for many who would seek to compete with the world famous Mammoth Cave. Roughly one hundred years of competition between enterprising cave managers, guides, locals, outsiders, explorers, and those loyal to one cave or another defined an era known as the Kentucky Cave Wars.

Stunningly visual, extraordinarily detailed, powerfully dramatic, here is the first volume of a remarkable new series . . . The First Americans. When humans first walked the world, when nature ruled the earth and sky, a proud tribe is threatened by a series of natural disasters. A bold young hunter named Torka, who lost his wife and child to a killer mammoth, leads the survivors over the glacial tundra on a desperate eastward odyssey to the save their clan. Through attacks of savage animals and encounters with strangers not unlike themselves, they must brave the hardships of a foreign landscape and learn to live in an exotic new world of mystery and danger. They must travel toward the land where the sun rises for a new day for their clan—and an awesome future for the American.

The story of Stephen Bishop, a slave and early explorer and guide at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.

“Heart-stopping and relentlessly gripping. Tabor takes us on an odyssey into unfathomable worlds beneath us, and into the hearts of rare explorers who will do anything to get there first.”—Robert Kurson, author of ShadowDivers In 2004, two great scientist-explorers attempted to find the bottom of the world. American Bill Stone took on the vast, deadly Cheve Cave in southern Mexico. Ukrainian Alexander Klimchouk targeted Krubera, a freezing nightmare of a supercave in the war-torn former Soviet republic of Georgia. Both men spent months almost two vertical miles deep, contending with thousand-foot drops, raging whitewater rivers, monstrous waterfalls, mile-long belly crawls, and the psychological horrors produced by weeks in absolute darkness, beyond all hope of rescue. Based on his unprecedented access to logs and journals as well as hours of personal interviews, James Tabor has crafted a thrilling exploration of man’s timeless urge to discover—and of two extraordinary men whose pursuit of greatness led them to the heights of triumph and the depths of tragedy. Blind Descent is an unforgettable addition to the classic literature of true-life adventure, and a testament to human survival and endurance. “Holds the reader to his seat, containing dangers aplenty with deadly falls, killer microbes, sudden burial, asphyxiation, claustrophobia, anxiety, and hallucinations far underneath the ground in a lightless world. Using a pulse-pounding narrative, this is tense real-life adventure pitting two master cavers mirroring the cold war with very uncommonly high stakes.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A fascinating and informative introduction to the sport of cave diving, as well as a dramatic portrayal of a significant man-vs.-nature conflict. . . . What counts is Tabor’s knack for maximizing dramatic potential, while also managing to be informative and attentive to the major personalities associated with the most important cave explorations of the last two decades.”—Kirkus Reviews Includes a 16-pg black and white insert

This book is for children ages 9 and up, and it also appeals to adults as did the Laura Ingalls Wilder and Harry Potter stories. The kids from the previous book, The Cave of Healing, arrive at Mammoth Cave and are soon confronted with big problems. Because these kids can magically reduce their size to even an inch tall, they become the heroes of the Cave's search and rescue operations. The author was assisted by Mammoth cave explorers and the Cave staff in getting the geology, geography, speleology, and hydrology of the Cave right, as well as authentic actions of cave guides and rescue teams. Roger Brucker, one of the most famous cave explorers in the world, said, "This is a gripping tale, full of fun and adventure." Midwest Book Review calls it "An engrossing story to delight readers of all ages."