The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
by: Candice Millard
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Product Description:
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.
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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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- don't go there
Some books that describe a particular place in vivid detail make you really want to visit that place. This is not one of those books. The lush descriptions of the deadly flora and fauna of the rainforest made me perfectly happy to enjoy it all from a distance. But the same descriptions make Roosevelt and his fellow explorers very real, and gave me a good appreciation for the dangers they faced and the risks they took.
Rating: - Riotous River
Excitement, interest, and history:Seldom does one find all three in one book.I thoroughly enjoyed the story and learned that for sure I do not want to venture down the Amazon.
Rating: 
- Well Written, Fascinating Story
This is a gripping account of Roosevelt's harrowing trip down the River of Doubt in 1914. Millard gives thorough, but not overwhelming, background information on each of the expedition's members, the political situation in South America, and the ecosystem of the Amazon River basin. She is a bit repetitive, but it serves to underscore the gravity of the situation and how the explorers were in way over their heads.
I found the parts about the flora and fauna to be more interesting than ... Read More
Rating: - A thrilling story and a glimpse of history
Beware of foreign guides! Teddy Roosevelt and his friends had carefully planned a jungle river adventure in Brazil, but anexuberant guide manages to change their plans and takes them on one of the greatest explorations in South American history. The adventure is long, thrilling, and desperate, and the author portrays the stature and history of a truly great American. Dancing on the Edge of an Endangered Planet
Rating: - Great Book, Fascinating Story
Can you imagine a former popular U.S. President traveling with a group of explorers and naturalists into a wild and remote part of the world, not knowing if they will even be able to make it out alive ? This incredible story almost sounds like a Hollywood script, but it really did happen. Candice Millard does an outstanding job describing the events of this ill-fated expedition, which nearly cost Theodore Roosevelt, one of America's greatest Presidents, his life. For those who enjoy a good adventure ... Read More
- don't go thereSome books that describe a particular place in vivid detail make you really want to visit that place. This is not one of those books. The lush descriptions of the deadly flora and fauna of the rainforest made me perfectly happy to enjoy it all from a distance. But the same descriptions make Roosevelt and his fellow explorers very real, and gave me a good appreciation for the dangers they faced and the risks they took.
- Riotous RiverExcitement, interest, and history:Seldom does one find all three in one book.I thoroughly enjoyed the story and learned that for sure I do not want to venture down the Amazon.
- Well Written, Fascinating StoryThis is a gripping account of Roosevelt's harrowing trip down the River of Doubt in 1914. Millard gives thorough, but not overwhelming, background information on each of the expedition's members, the political situation in South America, and the ecosystem of the Amazon River basin. She is a bit repetitive, but it serves to underscore the gravity of the situation and how the explorers were in way over their heads.
I found the parts about the flora and fauna to be more interesting than ... Read More
- A thrilling story and a glimpse of historyBeware of foreign guides! Teddy Roosevelt and his friends had carefully planned a jungle river adventure in Brazil, but anexuberant guide manages to change their plans and takes them on one of the greatest explorations in South American history. The adventure is long, thrilling, and desperate, and the author portrays the stature and history of a truly great American. Dancing on the Edge of an Endangered Planet
- Great Book, Fascinating StoryCan you imagine a former popular U.S. President traveling with a group of explorers and naturalists into a wild and remote part of the world, not knowing if they will even be able to make it out alive ? This incredible story almost sounds like a Hollywood script, but it really did happen. Candice Millard does an outstanding job describing the events of this ill-fated expedition, which nearly cost Theodore Roosevelt, one of America's greatest Presidents, his life. For those who enjoy a good adventure ... Read More
