Brad Dimock, Sunk Without a Sound: The Tragic Colorado River Honeymoon of Glen and Bessie Hyde. In 1928, recently married Glen and Bessie Hyde set out on a trip down the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. Their boat was a crudely constructed wooden scow, with sweep oars bow and stern. Glen had previously run this type of craft successfully on rivers in Idaho. The Hydes hoped to win fame and fortune on this trip. Few people had successfully run the Colorado previously, and Bessie would have been the first woman. Their trip began auspiciously, and they checked in for supplies part way down the Canyon. Shortly after resupplying, the Hydes disappeared. Their scow was found along the river, partly swamped but with its cargo intact. Extensive searches over the next several years found no sign of Glen and Bessie, leaving their fate unknown. Brad Dimock, a professional raft guide, took his own wife on a re-enactment of the Hydes' trip, in a similar scow but accompanied by modern safety boats. The book is thoroughly researched and is profusely illustrated with period photographs.
De Anne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook, They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War. Uncounted dozens of women disguised themselves as men and served in both the Union and Confederate armies during the war. This book details their motives and their means of evading detection. It also describes the various ways in which their true identities were revealed, for example when female soldiers delivered babies in camp. This book is a fascinating look from a different angle into the adventures and personalities of Civil War soldiers.
