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River of the Gods
Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
0 of 1 copy available
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A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE WASHINGTON POST • GOODREADS
"A lean, fast-paced account of the almost absurdly dangerous quest by [Richard Burton and John Speke] to solve the geographic riddle of their era." —The New York Times Book Review
For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe – and extend their colonial empires.
Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton spoke twenty-nine languages, and was a decorated soldier. He was also mercurial, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officer determined to make his mark, passionate about hunting, Burton’s opposite in temperament and beliefs.
From the start the two men clashed. They would endure tremendous hardships, illness, and constant setbacks. Two years in, deep in the African interior, Burton became too sick to press on, but Speke did, and claimed he found the source in a great lake that he christened Lake Victoria. When they returned to England, Speke rushed to take credit, disparaging Burton. Burton disputed his claim, and Speke launched another expedition to Africa to prove it. The two became venomous enemies, with the public siding with the more charismatic Burton, to Speke’s great envy. The day before they were to publicly debate,Speke shot himself.
Yet there was a third man on both expeditions, his name obscured by imperial annals, whose exploits were even more extraordinary. This was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who was enslaved and shipped from his home village in East Africa to India. When the man who purchased him died, he made his way into the local Sultan’s army, and eventually traveled back to Africa, where he used his resourcefulness, linguistic prowess and raw courage to forge a living as a guide. Without Bombay and men like him, who led, carried, and protected the expedition, neither Englishman would have come close to the headwaters of the Nile, or perhaps even survived.
In River of the Gods Candice Millard has written another peerless story of courage and adventure, set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 17, 2022 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780525524106
- File size: 288972 KB
- Duration: 10:02:01
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from August 1, 2022
Millard (Hero of the Empire), a former National Geographic writer, offers a colorful and exciting history of an expedition to find the headwaters of the Nile River, the world's longest river. In 1857, two exceptional men set out on a dangerous adventure to find the source of the White Nile. John Hanning Speke, an aristocratic army officer, skilled surveyor, and passionate hunter, joined Richard Burton, an ambitious and combative army officer with scholarly interests and a facility for languages. Sidi Mubarak Bombay was their indispensable guide, who had been captured by slave traders as a child and spent 20 years enslaved in India before being freed and returning to Africa. He was one of the most experienced guides in African exploration and was crucial to the success of expeditions such as this one, Millard writes. Once in the field, however, the underfunded expedition team faced incredible hardship, battered by the climate, disease, and a death of supplies. Millard's account shows how tensions mounted and how Burton and Speke's frequent clashes made them into enemies. Paul Michael's changing pace of narration complements the pacing of Millard's text, and he effectively distinguishes the characters. VERDICT A fascinating story of adventure and courage, expertly narrated.--Cynthia Jensen
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Starred review from April 18, 2022
Bestseller Millard (Hero of the Empire) recounts one of the greatest 19th-century British colonial explorations in this fascinating history. In 1854, the Royal Geographical Society chose Richard Francis Burton to lead an expedition to locate the source of the White Nile, the longest branch of the Nile River. After one member of his original team died before the journey, Burton hired Lt. John Hanning Speke of the Bengal Native Infantry, an avid hunter and member of the British aristocracy. Tensions between the two strong-willed men quickly surfaced, but Burton was more fortunate in his hiring of Sidi Mubarak Bombay, a formerly enslaved East African, as head gun carrier. While Burton recuperated from an illness, Speke and Bombay reached Lake Nyanza (also known as Lake Victoria), which Speke claimed as the Nile’s source. Burton maintained that Speke had failed to settle the question, but before the two men could publicly debate the issue in 1864, Speke died in a hunting accident. Subsequent explorations, in which Bombay took part, proved Speke’s theory. Millard’s lushly detailed adventure story keeps a steady eye on the racial power dynamics involved in this imperialist endeavor and brilliantly illuminates the characters of Burton, Speke, and Bombay. Readers will be riveted. Illus.
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