They Married Adventure: The Wandering Lives of Martin and Osa Johnson

Martin and Osa Johnson thrilled American audiences of the 1920s and 30s with their remarkable movies of far-away places, exotic peoples, and the dramatic spectacle of African wildlife. Their own lives were as exciting as the movies they made—sailing through the South Sea Islands, dodging big game at African waterholes, flying small planes over the veldt, taking millionaires on safari.

Osa Johnson’s ghostwritten autobiography, I Married Adventure, became a national bestseller. The 1939 film ...