The Adventures of a Tropical Tramp [Paperback]

Harry L. Foster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

A WWI veteran seized with "wanderlust," Foster sought adventure in tropical South America in the 1920s. Working as a miner, reporter, war correspondent, diplomatic attache, guide, companion, and rag-time piano player, he "tramps" his way through Peru and the Andes, and continues on a perilous canoe expedition down uncharted headwaters to the Amazon.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Foster has been described as perhaps the most "lost" of the Lost Generation, and in the wake of WWI, he chronicled his exploration of the back-alley bistros and backwater villages of South America in the 1920s. This book is a fit beginning for an adventurer whose courage and daring was always much larger than his pocketbook, and his take on the often insane world around him is infused with humor, not condescension. A great read for those who would like to escape to a chimerical world in a simpler time.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Chapter 1

I had just applied for a job as a stoker, but a Palm Beach suit and a Panama hat, and a cane did not seem to be a convincing costume on the figure of an applicant for this position.

"Ever shovel coal before?" he demanded.

"No, sir."

"Just looking for adventure?"

"Yes, sir."

His eyes became a little more kindly.

"Don't do it, son. Go home. South America is full of adventurers. they're in every port along the coast--went down there to discover gold mines or start revolutions--all that kind of rot. Now they're begging alms, starving, down and out. they'd sell a wooden leg to get the price of a square meal--only they'd spend the money for rum instead."

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Dixon Price Publishing; Revised edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929516169
• ISBN-13: 978-1929516162
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,486,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A well-written tale of a lost era., July 29, 2001

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My Pen Name "not me" (nowhere) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Adventures of a Tropical Tramp (Paperback)

A minor gem. This forgotten book is a classic travel-adventure set in 1920 Peru. Hats off to Dixon-Price Publishing for resurrecting it. Pity that the copy-editing was not done a little more skillfully, as there are a number of typo's and mis-used homonyms in the book the product of unskilled use of computer spell checker.

Still, this is a minor quibble. (A map would have been nice too). Harry Foster's casual employment in the mines, cities, and jungles of Peru are a classic of early 20th Century travel writing. Some might feel that his characterizations of Peruvian Indians, Peruvian "Anglo's, and the Irish are a bit harsh. However, he presents a well-balanced narrative of the country, and its types. This lost world (the 1920's) is a rough and tumble time, gone forever. A great loss. Foster preserves those days for posterity through his colorful writing and astute observations of people and cultures.

Many modern travel writers could learn from his unselfconscious writing style. The book never misses a beat. A combination of irony and genuine love of people, regardless of differing cultures, lifts this book out of the mundane. I highly recommend it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating reading; we can only hope for future volumes, January 16, 2001

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Adventures of a Tropical Tramp (Paperback)

The Adventures Of A Tropical Tramp is the travel narrative of Harry La Tourette Foster, who spent most of his life after the conclusion of World War I wandering the main roads and back roads of the world, from Mexico and South America, to Asia, the South Pacific, The Caribbean, and the Mediterranean. This particular travelogue is the story of his travels in South America following his discharge from the army. He went aboard a tramp steamer bound for Peru. Landing with no funds or resources, he took a series of odd jobs, eventually becoming a reporter for a Lima paper. He went on to join two missionaries trekking overland to the headwaters of the ..., then continued on adventure filled journeys down the ... tributaries. He ended his travels playing ragtime piano in sleazy bars until he was able to earn his passage home to New York. The Adventures Of A Tropical Tramp is fascinating reading and we can only hope for future volumes detailing his later itinerant travels to far away places and foreign climes.