Trapped!: The story of Floyd Collins
When Floyd Collins entered Sand Cave in 1925, little did he realize that he would soon become a national folk hero. His entrapment and the subsequent efforts to free him attracted national attention and became one of the most sensational news events of the 20th Century. The new 2025 edition, includes a new afterword by Brucker, this third edition includes a foreword by playwright and director Tina Landau whose musical Floyd Collins will have its Broadway debut on April 21, 2025.
Grand, Gloomy, and Peculiar: Stephen Bishop at Mammoth Cave
Roger Brucker’s fifth book, and his first novel. Based on a true story, it tells of Stephen Bishop, the slave who gained fame as a guide and explorer at Mammoth Cave in the 1840s and 50s. His early explorations paved the way for subsequent discoveries that led to Mammoth Cave becoming a national park a century later.
Beyond Mammoth Cave
Roger Brucker’s fourth book, co-written with James D. Borden. A sequel to The Longest Cave, Beyond Mammoth Cave details the series of expeditions that linked Mammoth Cave with Roppel Cave, expanding the Mammoth Cave System to 300 miles in 1983.
The Caves Beyond
In 1954, the National Speleological Society sent the largest, most highly organized and best-equipped expedition in the history of American cave exploration into Floyd Collins’ Crystal Cave, which Collins had discovered years before getting trapped in Sand Cave.
The Longest Cave
First published in 1976, The Longest Cave is a true classic of caving literature. With co-author Richard A. Watson, Roger Brucker takes readers on a series of grueling expeditions that resulted in the long sought-after connection between Mammoth Cave and the Flint Ridge Cave System.