I Married Adventure

Before Joy Adamson went to Africa, before Margaret Mead sailed to Samoa, a Kansas teenager named Osa Leighty married pioneering photographer Martin Johnson. Together the Johnsons flew and sailed to Borneo, Kenya, and the Congo, filming Simba and other popular nature movies with Martin behind the camera and Osa holding her rifle at the ready in case the big game star should turn hostile. Illustrated with scores of the dramatic photos that made the Johnsons famous, this bestselling memoir retraces their careers in rich detail, with precisely observed descriptions and heart-stopping anecdotes.

"books of adventure are so numerous….[But] this one is unique. It has the human quality of a novel and the permanence of social history." —Katherine Woods, The New York Times"Tells the whole story unaffectedly and with a simple charm that is highly engaging. It belongs on any list of Americana, for the Johnsons were as American as Davy Crockett." —Joseph Wood Krutch, The Nation"A pleasant, forthright…exciting book." —Clifton Fadiman, The New Yorker"It makes good reading…at this dark hour, as good an ‘escape story’ as you are apt to run into for some time." —Atlantic Monthly"I MARRIED ADVENTURE is a fine book on many counts…A good travel book, a good adventure book, a good book about animals, a good book on photography, and , best of all…a good human story about two extremely likable people, told by one of them with simplicity, humor, [and] warmth." —Rose Feld, Books"It isn’t just the animal-lover who will cherish this story. Anyone who likes a thrilling tale (a true one, too) with a plucky, nervy, cheerful, and charming hero and heroine is all set. I MARRIED ADVENTURE is as rare and real as the people who made it possible."—Olga Owens, Boston Transcript"The reader is impressed with the tremendous industriousness of these two people, their physical endurance, their patience, their understanding of animals and natives, and their love for each other….[The] old and young will enjoy this book. It is splendidly illustrated." —M.N. Baker, Library Journal"Every page of her book is readable and exciting: the photographs are plentiful and have all the dramatic quality that we are used to in the camera work of the author and her husband." —Manchester Guardian

Osa Johnson was born in 1893 in Chanute Kansas. She married Martin Johnson in 1910 and accompanied him on all his expeditions until 1937, when he was killed in a commercial plane crash. After Martin's death, Osa continued his work alone, traveling, making films and writing. In 1940 she published I Married Adventure, which became a world-wide bestseller. The book was published under the Kodansha Globe imprint in 1997.