Explorers of the Nile : The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure – Tim Jeal

Description

Between 1856 and 1876, five explorers, all British, took on the seemingly impossible task of discovering the source of the White Nile. Showing exceptional courage and extraordinary resilience, Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, Samuel Baker, David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley risked their lives and their reputations in the name of this quest. They journeyed through East and Central Africa into unmapped territory, discovered the great lakes, Tanganyika and Victoria, navigated the upper Nile and the Congo, and suffered the ravages of flesh-eating ulcers, malaria and deep spear wounds. Using new research, Tim Jeal tells the story of these great expeditions, while also examining the tragic consequences which the Nile search has had on Uganda and Sudan to this day. “Explorers of the Nile” is a gripping adventure story with an arresting analysis of Britain’s imperial past and the Scramble for Africa. Explorers of the Nile is a brilliant, scholarly and at times almost unreadably vivid account of the two decades in the middle of the 19th century when the search for the Nile’s source in central Africa was at its height. Ben Macintyre, New York Times Book Review “Masterly.One of the fascinations of Jeal’s book and his account of this astonishing period of exploration is that it makes great efforts to strip away the accumulated myths and through this process we can begin to see these ‘heroic’ figures plain, to imagine them as they were to their contemporaries.” William Boyd, TLS “There are few greater stories than the race to the Nile’s source. Tim Jeal gives a fine reprise, bringing together in one well-paced narrative the interlocking Nilotic adventures . Its place [is] alongside the classics of Victorian explorer history.” Tim Butcher, Daily Telegraph.
Hardcover. First Edition Second printing. Illustrated. 510 pages, including index, bibliography and extensive notes 8 pages colour plates and 8 pages black and white plates, numerous illustrations in the text and occasional maps. Green boards with gilt title on spine. Condition: clean tight copy with clear text, appears unread. Dust Wrapper very good ++ and in a protective cellophane cover for extra protection Indeed an exceptional copy