The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice MillardMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Utterly spellbinding from start to finish, The River of Doubt recounts Theodore's Roosevelt's exploration into the heart of darkness with a small group of outdoorsmen, scientists and naturalists to survey/canoe down the uncharted Rio da Dúvida in the Amazon basin.
It is a terrifying, harrowing account.
There were times I had to stop listening, just to get relief from imagining their awful suffering under relentless assault from insects, heat, drenching rains, ruined boats, fevers, dysentery, hunger, and mutinous workers. But, the extraordinary bravery, grit, and honor with which the group carried on, even in the face of death, was so compelling, that I could not stay away long.
This is a powerful page-turner.
The small expedition was ill-prepared for the brutality of the landscape due to a series of bad decisions on the selection of the people who would pack their supplies. The folly of these people bordered on the criminal, to my mind. It resulted in an ongoing perfect storm of ad hoc corrective measures all of which made the lives of the expedition completely miserable.
You will feel the sting of the insects, the bone-weary discouragement of the men as they come upon yet more rapids and must portage their dugouts, and the constant fear of predators in the water and on the ground.
They only narrowly escaped death.
It is an amazing, true story of survival against all odds. You will come to love Theodore Roosevelt, his son Kermit, and especially the unstoppable Colonel Rondon.
What an amazing group of men!
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