The Lady and the Panda: The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China's Most Exotic Animal
Written by Vicki Croke
Narrated by Lorna Raver
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Here is the astonishing true story of Ruth Harkness, the Manhattan bohemian socialite who, against all but impossible odds, trekked to Tibet in 1936 to capture the most mysterious animal of the day: a bear that had for countless centuries lived in secret in the labyrinth of lonely cold mountains. In The Lady and the Panda, Vicki Constantine Croke gives us the remarkable account of Ruth Harkness and her extraordinary journey, and restores Harkness to her rightful place along with Sacajawea, Nellie Bly, and Amelia Earhart as one of the great woman adventurers of all time.
Ruth was the toast of 1930s New York, a dress designer newly married to a wealthy adventurer, Bill Harkness. Just weeks after their wedding, however, Bill decamped for China in hopes of becoming the first Westerner to capture a giant panda-an expedition on which many had embarked and failed miserably. Bill was also to fail in his quest, dying horribly alone in China and leaving his widow heartbroken and adrift. And so Ruth made the fateful decision to adopt her husband's dream as her own and set off on the adventure of a lifetime.
It was not easy. Indeed, everything was against Ruth Harkness. In decadent Shanghai, the exclusive fraternity of white male explorers patronized her, scorned her, and joked about her softness, her lack of experience and money. But Ruth ignored them, organizing, outfitting, and leading a bare-bones campaign into the majestic but treacherous hinterlands where China borders Tibet. As her partner she chose Quentin Young, a twenty-two-year-old Chinese explorer as unconventional as she was, who would join her in a romance as torrid as it was taboo.
Traveling across some of the toughest terrain in the world-nearly impenetrable bamboo forests, slick and perilous mountain slopes, and boulder-strewn passages-the team raced against a traitorous rival, and was constantly threatened by hordes of bandits and hostile natives. The voyage took months to complete and cost Ruth everything she had. But when, almost miraculously, she returned from her journey with a baby panda named Su Lin in her arms, the story became an international sensation and made the front pages of newspapers around the world. No animal in history had gotten such attention. And Ruth Harkness became a hero.
Drawing extensively on American and Chinese sources, including diaries, scores of interviews, and previously unseen intimate letters from Ruth Harkness, Vicki Constantine Croke has fashioned a captivating and richly textured narrative about a woman ahead of her time. Part Myrna Loy, part Jane Goodall, by turns wisecracking and poetic, practical and spiritual, Ruth Harkness is a trailblazing figure. And her story makes for an unforgettable, deeply moving adventure.
From the Hardcover edition.
More audiobooks from Vicki Croke
Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Lady and the Panda
Related audiobooks
Murder at Teal's Pond: Hazel Drew and the Mystery That Inspired Twin Peaks Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Katherine Swynford Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5History Revealed: Harriet Tubman: Moses of her People: Episode 27 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWildcat: The Untold Story of Pearl Hart, the Wild West's Most Notorious Woman Bandit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mound Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMassacre on the Merrimack: Hannah Duston's Captivity and Revenge in Colonial America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ladies of the Canyons: A League of Extraordinary Women and Their Adventures in the American Southwest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Duchess Countess Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Open Wide the Freedom Gates: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cats of America: How Cool Cats and Bad-Ass Kitties Won The Nation's Heart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKatherine: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears: Fifty of the Grittiest Moments in the History of the Wild West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ruth Bell Graham: Celebrating an Extraordinary Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5BRAVE HEARTED: The Women of the American West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grinnell: America's Environmental Pioneer and His Restless Drive to Save the West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bravest Voices: A Memoir of Two Sisters' Heroism During the Nazi Era Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eerie Appalachia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWagons West Nebraska! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Martin Dugard's Into Africa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAloha Wanderwell: The Border-Smashing, Record-Setting Life of the World's Youngest Explorer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNat Love: The Life and Legacy of the Former Slave Who Became the Wild West's Most Famous Black Cowboy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Camps and Trails in Old China Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sojourner Truth: The American Abolitionist and Women’s Rights Activist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiana: Her True Story in Her Own Words Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Women's Biographies For You
The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Own It All: How to Stop Waiting for Change and Start Creating It. Because Your Life Belongs to You. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stash: My Life in Hiding Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down the Drain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Dream House: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Got Anything Stronger?: Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tell Me Everything: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hello, Molly!: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Mother Was Nuts: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uncultured: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We're Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Class: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories We Tell: Every Piece of Your Story Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Witch of Eye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Butts: A Backstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Love Story: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Code Name Blue Wren: The True Story of America's Most Dangerous Female Spy—and the Sister She Betrayed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Own Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Lady and the Panda
0 ratings0 reviews