 | | |
| The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey | 
 enlarge | Author: Candice Millard
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $6.69
You Save: $8.26 (55%)
Buy New/Used from $6.69
Avg. Customer Rating:  (211 reviews)
Sales Rank: 2819
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 0767913736
Dewey Decimal Number: 918.113045
EAN: 9780767913737
ASIN: 0767913736
Publication Date: October 10, 2006
Release Date: October 10, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Terrific November 20, 2005
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
This is a terrific history. It is much more than a biographical sketch of Teddy Roosevelt. It is a snapshot of 1914, a portrait of the Amazon rain forest, a primer on the flora and fauna of that rain forest, a look at the natives of the area and yet still more.
Ms Millard takes the reader into the jungle with Roosevelt's expedition down a river that had never been explored nor mapped. It was called the River of Doubt and thereafter the Roosevelt River. She follows the entire expeditionary force, including Roosevelt's son, Kermit, Rondon (a Brazilian explorer and hero), an American naturalist and Rondon's right hand man. All kept contemporaneous accounts which the author used well. Quotes from the diaries were used sparingly so they added to the flow of the book rather than interrupted it.
As the group traverses the river, encountering rapids, falls, and the myriad of natural dangers, Ms Millard continues to inform on a wide breadth of subjects without making the information cumbersome. As Roosevelt would have liked, the book is less about him than the expedition and the newly explored river and jungle. Using the accounts, she is able to explain to the reader the motivations that made each man go on this hugely dangerous mission. These insights add even more to the book.
This is non-fiction at its finest. Its core, I suppose, is biography, but it is a fast-moving account of an expedition that almost killed everyone on it. In its telling, the author branches out into many other areas to give the reader a true understanding of what the intrepid explorers were going through and experiencing.
This book is highly recommended for more than just history buffs.
Excellent mix of adventure and history November 13, 2005
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
Candice Millard's River of Doubt, about Theodore Roosevelt and his colleagues journey throungh the Amazon region was a wonderfully enjoyable book. The journey itself takes the reader through an unexplored region of the Amazon with an amazing cast of characters from Rooosevelt to the evil Jose, a camarada or helper who ends up as an imposition at best. The book itself begins with the preperations for the journey, an amazing task in itself and one whose lack of adequacy came to afflict TR and colleagues through the rest of the adventure. Ms. Millard, through her digressions (in a positive sense) provides a good picture of Roosevelt, the age and his colleagues. It also provides interesting facts and verbal pictures of what the surrounding jungle and its inhabitants were like. I heartily recommend this book.
Real life is better than fiction November 11, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Some of my favorite nonfiction writers are Jon Krakauer and John Berendt. They truly know how to take a real-life incident and bring it to life in a way that the reader feels a part of the story. These authors place readers in a state of suspended amazement as they feel the same emotions as the individuals about whom they are reading. Candice Millard has now joined that list of my favorite writers. Not only does she provide the same fascinating storytelling, but she also teaches you about history, nature and evolution in a way your high school teachers were never able. I can't wait to read Millard's next endeavor! (I just hope I don't have to wait 4 years before that happens!)
My favorite nonfiction this year. If you love real life adventure... November 10, 2005
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
What a terrific book. And what an amazing story. It's hard to believe it's nonfiction, and that this adventure with these real life heroes and personalities really took place.
Summary:
This is the story of Teddy Roosevelt's 1913 Amazon expedition of the River of Doubt. Roosevelt had just lost his bid to win the presidency on a third party ticket, and rather than stay home and do nothing, he decided on this amazing adventure.
This was the era for great explorers, and the Amazon was one of the last remaining unmapped and unexplored areas. Roosevelt had already been to Africa, so the temptation of an Amazon exploration was too much for him to resist.
With his son Kermit, naturalist George Cherrie, and a group of Indian guides led by legendary explorer and Brazilian hero, Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt takes on the task of mapping this dangerous and treacherous river.
The trip was not planned well (to say the least), and the story of their attempts to battle nature *and* each other is harrowing.
This book is worth the read just for the description of the various flora and fauna alone. (Let's put it this way, anacondas were the LEAST of their problems...) By the time Roosevelt reaches the river, I found I could not put the book down. It was that thrilling.
Highly recommended. Not just for a wonderful tale of adventure, but to get an understanding of the unique and impressive personality of Teddy Roosevelt. What a remarkable man, and what a remarkable story.
No doubt about The River of Doubt November 8, 2005
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
I shall be brief; for it is better to spend any free time that you might have reading or listening to this extraordinary book. It actually is three books in one. 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 and certainly offers every bit of the fascination of the natural history narratives of Burroughs. I would suggest you listen and read along with this story. While at home you will not be able to put it down, so be advised to listen during your commutes. Almost as interesting as the story is the author herself and how she came to find the story. Near the end of her writing project, she herself had to draw upon the insipration of the expedition. But that is a story you will need to find on your own if you so choose. The bottom line is that this a superb book on so many levels, and destined to become a classic and, hopefully, a film. If you enjoy presidential history, natural history and adventure there is absolutely no reason you will not fall in love with this book as I did. I suspect as well, you will be reading passages aloud to your friends and family...sometimes to their dismay of the subject matter, perhaps. Also, one note of warning: it may bring a tear or two to your eyes as it winds down. I give it my highest recommendation.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| | |