A combination of artistic ambitions, a thirst for adventure and discovery, courtship of and eventual marriage to an American, and above all poor health turned Robert Louis Stevenson into a life-long wanderer. His early travel writing demonstrates his keen eye for visual detail, his interest in particular people and situations encountered along the way, and his relative indifference to conventional tourist attractions. Stevenson is also admired for his ability to create and convey an image of himself as a somewhat bohemian, humorous, and introspective traveler. In his later travel writing, dealing with European immigration to America and describing the impact of European and American trade and settlement on the South Sea islands, Stevenson records significant historic events and social changes and develops an empathy with fellow British expatriates as well as with oppressed native peoples. Readers from Stevenson's time to the present have admired his precise, felicitous style...