Richard Bangs

Richard Bangs
Richard Bangs in 2013
Born	Richard Johnston Bangs (1950-08-24) August 24, 1950 (age 66) New Haven, Connecticut
Nationality	USA
Alma mater	Northwestern University, B.A., 1972 University of Southern California, M.A., 1975
Occupation	writer, traveler, TV host, explorer, producer
Parent(s)	Lawrence Cutler and Louise Bangs
Website	http://www.richardbangs.com/

Richard Johnston Bangs (born 1950) is an American author and television personality focusing on international travel. He is the host and executive producer of a series of American Public Television specials, including Richard Bangs Quests and Richard Bangs Adventures with Purpose

Bangs' college summers were spent as a Colorado River guide in the Grand Canyon. After college, Bangs and some friends concocted a plan to run wild rivers in Ethiopia. In February 1973, he and his crew successfully ran the Awash River in Ethiopia. His identity as a river guide was solidified at that point.

Bangs and his penniless friends figured they could finance a return trip or two by taking clients along. And so they did – on the Omo in Ethiopia – and Sobek Expeditions (co-founded with John Yost) was born, named in gratitude for the Egyptian crocodile god who may have spared their lives on those early first descents. Sobek became a river-running exploratory company via which Bangs and fellow guides racked up 35 first descents. Sobek Expeditions merged with Mountain Travel to become Mountain Travel Sobek in 1991. Bangs served as president of Outward Bound (2001–2002).

Bangs' articles and essays have appeared in many places, including in The New York Times, Slate and The Huffington Post. Bangs has authored 19 books. His book The Lost River: A Memoir of Life, Death and the Transformation of Wild Water won the National Outdoor Book Award in the literature category, and the Lowell Thomas Award for best book. Adventures with Purpose won the 2007 best book award from NATJA. Recent books are Quest for the Sublime (2008) and Quest for the Kasbah (2009).

Bangs was founder and editor-in-chief of Mungo Park, a pioneering Microsoft travel publishing effort. He also founded www.terra-quest.com. He was part of the founding executive team of Expedia.com, and served as its Editor-at-Large. He was creator and publisher of Expedia Travels Magazine (published in partnership with Ziff-Davis), and executive producer of Expedia Radio, and founder and executive director of Expedia Cafes. He founded the Well Traveled feature (Dispatches From The Front Lines of Travel) for Slate, and was founding editor and executive producer of Great Escapes at MSNBC.com. He also ran and founded First and Best for MSN, and in 2005 founded and headed up Richard Bangs Adventures for Yahoo! News.