"For the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge." The familiar phrase, the founding mission statement of the National Geographic Society, appears each month on the masthead of its magazine. But increasing and diffusing knowledge costs money, and for more than a hundred years the funds that have supported the research and exploration arm of the Society have come chiefly from the dues of its members. "Millionaire and college professor, capitan of industry and clerk," in the phrase of early Society President Gilbert H. Grosvenor, have had "an equal share" in financing expeditions. [This Book]...chronicles the results of some of the thousands of research grants awarded since 1890. Through its pages march familiar names: Beebe, Goodall, Fossey, Bass, the Leakeys, and the Craigheads, Cousteau. And exotic, often faraway places: Machu Picchu, Borneo, Rwanda, Herculaneum- "a time capsule for posterity"- Pueblo Bonito, Chan Chan, Tibet, the Galapagos.