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The book opened my eyes to two new subjects, Teddy R. I am particularly fond of Burton/ Speke/Livinston, etc. I love reading about explorers through the ages. and South American exploration. in Africa and the polar explorers. This is the first book I've read about South American exploration except for the usual conquest and gold explorers/exploiters. These explorers accomplished an incredible feat in the face of starvation, sickness, mental and physical challenges we can only imagine in this day. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in TR, reads National Geographic, or watches NATGeo.
This book reads like a "Boy's Own" adventure. Men like TR were few and far between. Teddy almost died (and may have dies because of this trip)on this journey.From the haphazard beginning to the almost tragic end, this book was almost impossible to put down. It makes you appreciate what it was like to travel at the beginning of the 20th century. You have to admire him.The book does not stint on the information provided about the others on the trip as well. Overall a valuable record of a little known voyage.
Taking over a month to travel through the rainforest to the mouth of the Rio Duvida, Roosevelt and his son Kermit began to realize they were not prepared for the journey. For forty-eight days we saw no human being. The journey was a long and treacherous one, as described by Roosevelt-"We have had a hard and somewhat dangerous but very successful trip. As they began to run into dangerous rapids, the men had to dock their boats wade through the piranha infested waters and carve a path through the rainforest filled with natives so primitive, they had not yet even conceived of boats.
forcing our way down through what seemed a literally endless succession of rapids and cataracts. River of Doubt is a great book about Theodore Roosevelt, which concentrates solely on the months he spent exploring the uncharted Rio Duvida which flows wildly through the rainforests of South America. Numerous members of the party were sent home and heavy supplies were abandoned before they even began their descent. At one point he begged the party to go on without him, but his son refused to let him die alone in the rainforest.The author does a fantastic job describing the rainforest as it was in 1913-14, very primitive and untouched by humans. In passing these rapids we lost five of the seven canoes.
No non-native had ever traversed the river, so Brazilian army commander Rondon lead the trip and vowed to survey and record every inch of the river.The trip began slowly as Rondon stopped numerous times to measure the river's curves. She also gives great background on each of the main players in the story- Rondon, Cherrie- a naturalist sent to collect bird specimens, and the two Roosevelts. No less than six weeks were spent. The rapids almost took the life of Roosevelt's son Kermit, and soon after did take the life of one of the paid workers on the journey. One of our best men lost his life in the rapids."The story begins after Roosevelt's defeat as a Progressive Party candidate in 1912.
To get away from it all, he plans another grand adventure in South America. Things got even worse as the natives attacked the party's dog and Roosevelt became deathly ill. This journey down the uncharted waters of the dangerous Rio Duvida (now the Rio Roosevelt) isn't known by many, but is a fantastic tale for fans history, social studies, and geography.
This is a tremendous book, retelling a significant voyage of discovery in the early 20th century involving the former president; his son Kermit and Brazil's foremost explorer Candido Rondon. But Mallard tells this slice of the Teddy Roosevelt story exceptionally well and brings other characters, places and events into the story. Rondon, who had devoted his life to exploring the Amazon, and whose committment to the native population was such that he expected his men to die rather than fight back if they were attacked, comes across as a fascinating character in his own right, and obviously, there are conflicts with his co commander, the hero of San Juan Hill.
Initially intended as a combination speaking tour/excursion, Theodore Roosevelt's impulsive decision to expand the trip to include exploring the uncharted River of Doubt, turned the journey into a life threatening experience. Mallard's background as an editor for National Geographic comes into play here as she describes the difficulties of jungle exploration, and sets the scene in the Amazon wonderfully. Following his resounding defeat in the election of 1912, when he ran as a third party candidate, and badly splintered the Republican Party, Roosevelt decided, as was his habit, to recuperate by throwing himself into a vigorous physical challenge.
Roosevelt's, dutiful son Kermit is also a finely drawn character, with his quiet acceptance of his father's demands, until the ex-president finally asks too much of him and the son over rules the old man and basically takes command of the operation. First time author Candice Millard does a great job of building suspense and defining the characters. Brazil's Col.
I read this after reading two parts of the projected three volumne biography of Roosevelt by Edmond Morris, and was actually a little fearful this would suffer by comparison.
The story of T. Roosevelt's trip down this perilous river was interesting and exciting. It certainly increased my knowledge of this adventuresome man. I would highly recommend it.
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