The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
Categories: Non-fiction, history, adventure/exploration, bibliography
Published December 15, 2009
Author: Candice Millard
I purchased this book over Valentine's weekend when out on our date night my wife and I found ourselves yet again at a bookstore. I finally started reading this shortly before I left for my business trip last week, and I had it finished within a few days. Entirely too soon in terms of trip, and leaving me wanting more from the same writer (thankfully I was satisfied there upon my return to the states).
Candice Millard is a former writer and editor for the National Geographic magazine, and combines detailed research with the type of story telling that has you immersed while actually learning some really interesting history along the way. Not only does she provide excellent, detailed context for the main narrative, but she manages to pull us into the key relationships that will decide the fate of this epic adventure when the fecal matter starts to hit the oscillator.
Things start out grandiose in Brazil, with much pomp and circumstance, as Roosevelt is warmly received (in most places) and goes on a small speaking tour in Brazil before commencing on a voyage into the Amazon. The Bull Moose had always been an avid naturalist and hunter, and looking for a new challenge (following his failed bid for an unprecedented third term in the White House) he agrees to lead an expedition of naturalists, sponsored by the Smithsonian museum, down a known tributary of the Amazon in search and collection of new and rare specimens for the museum.
The best laid plans of mice and men however, in conjunction with a last minute change in itinerary, turn what should have been a mildly risky naturalists' gathering expedition into a descent down an un-mapped tributary so rife with incessant peril that it soon becomes clear that successfully navigating this unknown river has become a one way journey in which hangs the balance of life and death. Gripping stuff, I couldn't put it down, and highly recommend it. Very manly reading.
A+
I've picked up and started reading her only other published book: Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President. This one is about President Garfield, and only shortly into the book Millard has vividly set the stage describing Garfield's stroll through the Centennial Fair, where the anthems of all 49 nations in attendance were played (except that of the US, which wouldn't have one for another 50 years), and where young Alexander Graham Bell makes an appearance.
In a few short paragraphs she also describes enough of Chicago, the wooden buildings, wooden sidewalks, wooden-planked streets, the 100 days of drought, and late autumn setting that saw much of city stocked and ready for the winter with plenty of additional wood, hay, and kerosene, to leave little to the imagination of what kind of inferno consumed the city shortly after a small barn fire started on the west side. It had been less than 10 years since Custer and his men had been butchered, and less than that since President Andrew Jackson signed the bill forcing all Native Americans onto reservations. It was particularly striking to realize his bust still adorns the $20 dollar bill to this day, while the plight of many Native Americans continues to worsen.
Not too far into this book yet, but thoroughly enjoying another very entertaining glimpse at a piece of history.
