Two of mankind’s most persistent quests—“get rich quick” and “something for nothing”—provide the power driving these tales of treasure-seekers in action. Renowned storytellers like Louis L’Amour and Jack London join real-life adventurers risking their lives for riches they think are worth the dangers. Buried treasure, creeks glittering with gold nuggets, sunken galleons filled with Spanish doubloons—the mother lodes are as varied as the men pursuing them. Some of the seekers will be rewarded; others face tragedy in remote places, lost among the jungles, mountains, and oceans. In both fiction and non-fiction, these stories make treasure hunting a real-life experience, in gripping prose that makes the reader of these stories part of the hunt itself.

Lamar Underwood is the former editor-in-chief of Sports Afield and Outdoor Life and former editorial director of the Outdoor Magazine Group of Harris Publications in New York. The numerous books he has edited include Tales of the Mountain Men, The Greatest Hunting Stories Ever Told, Survival Stories, and War Stories and the novel On Dangerous Ground. He lives in Pennington, New Jersey.