Born in 1831, Isabella Bird, daughter of a clergyman, set off alone to the Antipodes in 1872 'in search of health' and found she had embarked on a life of adventurous travel.
'For four short months in 1898, the United States engaged in one of the smallest yet most triumphant military conflicts in history, the Spancish-American War. This episode ...heralded the rise of the United States as a global military and political power."