Escape to Adventure

A relatively short-lived entrant in the 'exotic adventures' sub-genre of men's magazines, Escape to Adventure published 41 issues between 1957 and 1964. This is the July 1959 issue and its cover and contents are pretty representative of the magazine's whole run.  The emphasis is firmly upon 'civilised' white men and (more importantly) white women being menaced by 'savages' and their disgusting sex-driven rituals.  The cover story - 'Captured by the Torture Tribe' - pretty much sums it all up: white woman carried off by black native, (although he's clearly assisting the white hunter hero, the image is clearly playing on audience expectations of implied rape and miscegenation - even if this black guy hasn't molested her, another one probably has, is the implication), gun-toting white hero, hostile natives and a sweaty jungle setting.  'Island of the Violent Virgins' promises something similar, but with a white man at the mercy of sex-starved female 'savages'.  Interestingly, 'I Saw the "Beat" Girls Run Wild!' implies a variation on the theme, possibly highlighting the supposed 'primitive' behaviour of modern young western women - frenzied sexually charged 'pagan' dancing and 'loose morals', no doubt.

The rest of the featured content looks to be more conventional 'exotic adventure' fare - 'Blood on the Veldt' an 'Ivory Hunting Saga', sounds like the sort of title you might have found in a Victorian gentleman's magazine, doubtless featuring brawny mustachioed men with big guns blowing away elephants by the dozen.  (Even in 1959 it was still OK to shoot wildlife indiscriminately if you had enough money.  Actually, it apparently still is).  Then there's the 'Bestseller Condensation: Manhunt in Kenya', concerning the 'thrilling pursuit of a Mau-Mau Chief'.  The subject matter here might well have been a bit conflicting for the average reader of a US men's magazine - on the one hand it features a black man being hunted down by his white 'superiors', on the other, that black man was opposing British colonial rule and pursuers were undoubtedly British.  What should they indulge, their racism or their Anglophobia?  (There was a fair amount of the latter in these publications, particularly in World War Two stories - the US never forgave us for starting the war and standing against fascism without them).  So, there you go, a typical edition of Escape to Adventure - its style and content was entirely consistent throughout its run, but by 1964, the appetite for these sorts of 'exotic adventure' stories was beginning to wane as tastes and attitudes changed.