The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
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Written by Candice Millard.
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($14.95)
Editorial Review (from Amazon.com)
At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth.The River of Doubt—it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron.
After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer, Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever.
Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived.
From the soaring beauty of the Amazon rain forest to the darkest night of Theodore Roosevelt’s life, here is Candice Millard’s dazzling debut.
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TonyTT thinks this book is Excellent.
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey
By Candice Millard
Candice Millard has written an outstandingly good historical non-fiction account of the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition in 1913 and 1914. The book has been selected as a "Best Book of the Year" by the NY Times Book Review, the Washington Post Book World, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today and the Kansas City Star.
The book jacket contains the following synopsis: "After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil's most famous explorer, Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. … Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide."
More than writing a simple recitation of the actions of the expedition, Ms. Millard has included historically relevant material and excerpts from personal diaries of the expeditionaries. This background and orientation gives the reader a clearer understanding of the times, the strong personalities involved and why certain decisions were made.
In addition to telling the harrowing tale of the day-to-day trials, tribulations, and setbacks endured by the expedition, Ms. Millard also explains some of the features of the great jungle that directly and adversely affected the expedition. Expecting to find large numbers of wild beasts to be shot and nuts and other foodstuffs that could be harvested along the way, the expedition was almost completely unsuccessful in foraging for food. So much so that the rare monkey that was shot or fish that was caught was the cause for great celebration.
As a reader of many science fiction novels, I couldn’t help but see parallels between this journey down the River of Doubt and any number of SciFi stories about intrepid explorers on an alien planet. Unwarranted assumptions about the nature of the environment through which they would travel meant that these strangers in a strange land did not understand how this alien landscape worked and were almost totally at its mercy.
I used Google Earth to get a sense of what this part of Brazil is like today (look for "Rio Roosevelt" which is the new name given the river during the expedition). What I saw was that the central part of Brazil still seems to be largely unpopulated and that it contains a staggering mile after uninterrupted mile of jungle. I can only imagine how isolated and desolate it must have been 100 years ago.
I easily rate this book as "Excellent" for an outstanding true adventure tale told most intimately and comprehensively. I could not find any other works by Candice Millard but you can bet that I will be keeping an eye out for her next book.