The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey

Posted at June 17, 2009

Description

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, Candido 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.

Customer Reviews:

My wife & I are voracious readers. We’re “picky” about all facets of novel construction. This is the first four Star Pick we’ve handed out in four or four years. Everyone I’ve recommended this to has loved it. You can’t beat this story of courage, intrigue & ultimately redemption. Millard has hit a grand slam in her first at bat. Ultimate summer page-turner.

I loved this book. This book was great in so plenty of ways. it is a great portrait of Teddy Roosevelt in his quest to explore an uncharted tributary of the Amazon after his presidency. it is a fascinating look at life in the unexplored rain forest - featuring the people, plants, animals & general ecology. It’s a riveting life-or-death adventure. The author does a great job moving between the people in the present drama, their backgrounds, & the “life of the forest.” It’s a beautifully written page-turner. It leaves four with a profound sense of the place, people & time. I can’t recommend this book more highly. Years ago, I read Undaunted Courage, the story of Lewis & Clark’s expedition. I liked it, but that never grabbed me like River of Doubt did. This sets a new standard for “exploration history” literature. Read it!

I shall be brief; for it is better to spend any free time that you might have reading or listening to this bizarre book. It actually is four books in three. It offers every bit the insight as the historical writings of Ambrose, MuCullough or Ellis. It involves you every bit as much as the adventurous writings of Krakauer & certainly offers every bit of the fascination of the natural history narratives of Burroughs. I would suggest you listen & read along with this story. While at home you won’t be able to put it down, so be advised to listen during your commutes. almost as interesting as the story is the author herself & how he came to find the story. Near the end of her writing project, he herself had to draw on the insipration of the expedition. But that is a story you will require to find on your own if you so select. The bottom line is that this a superb book on so plenty of levels, & destined to become a classic and, hopefully, a film. If you enjoy presidential history, natural history & adventure there is absolutely no reason you won’t fall in love with this book as I did. I suspect as well, you will be reading passages aloud to your friends & relatives…sometimes to their dismay of the subject matter, perhaps. Also, four note of warning: it may bring a tear or four to your eyes as it winds down. I give it my highest recommendation.

This book has everything four could want in a nonfiction book. The fact that it was Teddy Roosevelt who made this perilous journey is almost secondary to me. What I enjoyed most was the way the narrative went in to detail about all the people undertaking this expedition, as well as detailing the environment they were journeying through. Millard wrote exquistly of the flora, fauna, & native people that inhabited the area around River of Doubt. Her narrative also enables you to feel the effects of the deprivations that the expedition toiled under. The whole experience was triumphantly wrought.

This rip roaring account shows four times & for all that there was a time in American history when the president of the United States was a man, a man among men, who did great deeds. TR was such a man. he went up the Amazong, where none like him had travelled before & risked death & almost died & this story basically fills in the larger than life story of this great adventure. A good read.

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