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www.amazon.2db.com.pl - The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $10.17
Your Save: $ 4.78 ( 32% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Anchor
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 918.113045
EAN: 9780767913737
ISBN: 0767913736
Label: Anchor
Manufacturer: Anchor
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 432
Publication Date: 2006-10-10
Publisher: Anchor
Release Date: 2006-10-10
Studio: Anchor
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Editorial Reviews:
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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, Cândido 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.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Comment: I love reading about explorers through the ages. I am particularly fond of Burton/ Speke/Livinston, etc. 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. The book opened my eyes to two new subjects, Teddy R. and South American exploration. 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Real Life Adventures
Comment: This book reads like a "Boy's Own" adventure. 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. Men like TR were few and far between. 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: one of the best books I've ever read
Comment: 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. The journey was a long and treacherous one, as described by Roosevelt-
"We have had a hard and somewhat dangerous but very successful trip. No less than six weeks were spent... forcing our way down through what seemed a literally endless succession of rapids and cataracts. For forty-eight days we saw no human being. In passing these rapids we lost five of the seven canoes... 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. 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. Numerous members of the party were sent home and heavy supplies were abandoned before they even began their descent. 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. 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. 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. Things got even worse as the natives attacked the party's dog and Roosevelt became deathly ill. 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. 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. 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Roosevelts on the River
Comment: 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.
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.
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. First time author Candice Millard does a great job of building suspense and defining the characters.
Brazil's Col. 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. 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.
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.
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. But Mallard tells this slice of the Teddy Roosevelt story exceptionally well and brings other characters, places and events into the story.
Customer Rating:
Summary: River of Doubt
Comment: 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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Pozycjonowanie Strony Pianina Kodeki Szko³y jêzykowe Dobre ksiazki OOBE |
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