NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The harrowing story of one of the great
feats of exploration of all time and its complicated legacy--from the
New York Times bestselling author of The River of Doubt and Destiny
of the Republic
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.
