Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone

by Martin Dugard Narrated by John Lee

Overview

With the utterance of a single line-“Doctor Livingstone, I presume?”-a remote meeting in the heart of Africa was transformed into one of the most famous encounters in exploration history. But the true story behind Dr. David Livingstone and journalist Henry Morton Stanley is one that has escaped telling. Into Africa is an extraordinarily researched account of a thrilling adventure-defined by alarming foolishness, intense courage, and raw human achievement.

In the mid-1860s, exploration had reached a plateau. The seas and continents had been mapped, the globe circumnavigated. Yet one vexing puzzle remained unsolved: what was the source of the mighty Nile river? Aiming to settle the mystery once and for all, Great Britain called upon its legendary explorer, Dr. David Livingstone, who had spent years in Africa as a missionary. In March 1866, Livingstone steered a massive expedition into the heart of Africa. In his path lay nearly impenetrable, uncharted terrain, hostile cannibals, and deadly predators. Within weeks, the explorer had vanished without a trace. Years passed with no word.

While debate raged in England over whether Livingstone could be found-or rescued-from a place as daunting as Africa, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the brash American newspaper tycoon, hatched a plan to capitalize on the world's fascination with the missing legend. He would send a young journalist, Henry Morton Stanley, into Africa to search for Livingstone. A drifter with great ambition, but little success to show for it, Stanley undertook his assignment with gusto, filing reports that would one day captivate readers and dominate the front page of the New York Herald.

Tracing the amazing journeys of Livingstone and Stanley in alternating chapters, author Martin Dugard captures with breathtaking immediacy the perils and challenges these men faced. Woven into the narrative, Dugard tells an equally compelling story of the remarkable transformation that occurred over the course of nine years, as Stanley rose in power and prominence and Livingstone found himself alone and in mortal danger. The first book to draw on modern research and to explore the combination of adventure, politics, and larger-than-life personalities involved, Into Africa is a riveting read..

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

It is rare when a historical narrative keeps readers up late into the night, especially when the story is as well known as Henry Morgan Stanley's search for the missionary and explorer David Livingstone. But author and adventurer Dugard, who's written a biography of Capt. James Cook among other works, makes a suspenseful tale out of journalist Stanley's successful trek through the African interior to find and rescue a stranded Livingstone. Dugan has read extensively in unpublished diaries, newspapers of the time and the archives of Britain's Royal Geographical Society; he also visited the African locations central to the story. Together these sources enable him to re-create with immediacy the astounding hardships, both natural and manmade, that Africa put in the path of the two central characters. Dugard also presents thoughtful insights into the psychology of both Stanley and Livingstone, whose respective responses to Africa could not have differed more. Stanley was bent on beating Africa with sheer force of will, matching it brutality for brutality, while Livingstone, possessed of spirituality and a preternatural absence of any fear of death, responded to the continent's harshness with patience and humility. Descriptions of the African landscape are vivid, as are the descriptions of malaria, dysentery, sleeping sickness, insect infestations, monsoons and tribal wars, all of which Stanley and Livingstone faced. More disturbing, however is Dugard's depiction of the prosperous Arab slave trade, which creates a sense of menace that often reaches Conradian intensity. This is a well-researched, always engrossing book. Agent, Eric Simonoff. (On sale May 6) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Dugard (Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook) has written a riveting history focusing on the famous meeting of Dr. David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley in east Africa. Victorian explorer extraordinaire, Livingstone returned to Africa in 1866 to search for the disputed source of the Nile for the Royal Geographical Society. Stanley, a reporter for the New York Herald, was sent to Africa in 1870 to find Livingstone, who was feared dead. His dispatches continued to fan the flame of worldwide interest in Livingstone while also managing to "twist the tiger's tale" by condemning the British for abandoning their hero. Dugard details how the expeditions were conceived and equipped, the land through which they traveled, the tribes they encountered, the horrific evidence of the slave trade, and the myriad dangers experienced, such as sleeping sickness, malaria, carnivorous animals, snakes, war, hunger, and dehydration. Following the two men's journeys in alternating chapters, Dugard offers a text that is lively, enthralling, and informative. While not replacing the multiple full biographies of either man, this work is nevertheless highly recommended for all libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/02.]-Margaret Atwater-Singer, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Adult/High School-A superb tale of adventure, heroism, and suffering. Dugard provides essential background information between generous servings of heart-pounding excitement. The story begins in the spring of 1866 as David Livingstone was leaving Zanzibar for Mikindary to begin his search for the source of the Nile. Meanwhile, Henry Stanley, an unremarkable freelance writer, embarked on his own adventure, a journey east from Colorado that began by rafting the South Platte River. He hoped for a career as a newspaper reporter in New York. The activities of each man are described in alternate chapters. Rich biographical detail contributes to readers' understanding of the men's backgrounds and characters. This is not a tale for the squeamish: exhausted men slogging through fetid swamps succumb to horrifying diseases; roving bandits mutilate and devour their captives. Using the men's detailed journals, the archives of the Royal Geographic Society, newspaper reports, an impressive collection of secondary sources, and a few black-and-white photographs, the author provides readers with a picture of the time that is as compelling as the story of the search. Details about the role of newspapers, the management of ships, the debates about slavery, and many other topics enrich this book. The volume ends with the burial of Livingstone in Westminster Abbey, but an epilogue provides brief notes on the remainder of the lives of the other major figures in the story.-Kathy Tewell, Chantilly Regional Library, VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

An action-packed recounting of one of the most famous incidents in the history of exploration. Until well into the 19th century, European geography textbooks portrayed central Africa as a vast, uncharted wasteland, almost certainly a graveyard for any outsider unwise enough to enter it. The Scottish explorer David Livingstone almost single-handedly rewrote the record with his travels between 1841 and 1863, when "he saw for himself that Africa’s interior was a marvelous mosaic of highlands, light woodlands, tropical rain forest, plateaus, mountain ranges, coastal wetlands, river deltas, deserts, and thick forests." Through Livingstone’s expedition reports, armchair travelers were able to gain knowledge of the 20 million or so tribal people who lived in this huge area and of their "hidden civilizations," while would-be colonizers searched through Livingstone’s pages to determine where to land their invasion forces. All well and good, until, in the late 1860s, Livingstone and a large entourage disappeared somewhere between Zanzibar and Lake Tanganyika while poking around for the source of the Nile. Enter New York Herald correspondent Henry Morton Stanley, who, "charging through life with a massive chip on his shoulder," as explorer and popular historian Dugard (Farther Than Any Man, 2001, etc.) writes, was no mean adventurer himself. Braving disease, difficult terrain, and all manner of deprivation, Stanley toddled around southeastern Africa for three years on Livingstone’s trail, despairing of ever finding the senior explorer: "The Apostle of Africa is always on my mind. And as day after day passes without starting to find him, I find myself subject to fits of depression. Indeed, I havemany things to depress me." In one of the first great instances of a wag-the-dog story, Stanley’s quest became more famous than Livingstone’s, with the words he uttered on finally encountering the Scotsman--"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"--being far better remembered than Livingstone’s reply. (" ‘Yes,’ Livingstone answered simply. He was relieved that the man wasn’t French.") Fine entertainment for adventure buffs, solidly researched and fluently told. Agent: Eric Simonoff/Janklow & Nesbitt

From the Publisher

An action-packed recounting of one of the most famous incidents in the history of exploration. Until well into the 19th century, European geography textbooks portrayed central Africa as a vast, uncharted wasteland, almost certainly a graveyard for any outsider unwise enough to enter it. . . . In the late 1860s, [David] Livingstone and a large entourage disappeared somewhere between Zanzibar and Lake Tanganyika while poking around for the source of the Nile. Enter New York Herald correspondent Henry Morton Stanley. . . . Braving disease, difficult terrain, and all manner of deprivation, Stanley for three years [followed] Livingstone’s trail, despairing of ever finding the senior explorer. . . . Fine entertainment for adventure buffs, solidly researched and fluently told.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176475302
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	12/20/2002
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

With the utterance of a single line—“Doctor Livingstone, I presume?”—a remote meeting in the heart of Africa was transformed into one of the most famous encounters in exploration history. But the true story behind Dr. David Livingstone and journalist Henry Morton Stanley is one that has escaped telling. Into Africa is an extraordinarily researched account of a thrilling adventure—defined by alarming foolishness, intense courage, and raw human achievement.
In the mid-1860s, exploration had reached a plateau. The seas and continents had been mapped, the globe circumnavigated. Yet one vexing puzzle remained unsolved: what was the source of the mighty Nile river? Aiming to settle the mystery once and for all, Great Britain called upon its legendary explorer, Dr. David Livingstone, who had spent years in Africa as a missionary. In March 1866, Livingstone steered a massive expedition into the heart of Africa. In his path lay nearly impenetrable, uncharted terrain, hostile cannibals, and deadly predators. Within weeks, the explorer had vanished without a trace. Years passed with no word.
While debate raged in England over whether Livingstone could be found—or rescued—from a place as daunting as Africa, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the brash American newspaper tycoon, hatched a plan to capitalize on the world’s fascination with the missing legend. He would send a young journalist, Henry Morton Stanley, into Africa to search for Livingstone. A drifter with great ambition, but little success to show for it, Stanley undertook his assignment with gusto, filing reports that would one day captivate readers and dominate the front page of theNew York Herald.
Tracing the amazing journeys of Livingstone and Stanley in alternating chapters, author Martin Dugard captures with breathtaking immediacy the perils and challenges these men faced. Woven into the narrative, Dugard tells an equally compelling story of the remarkable transformation that occurred over the course of nine years, as Stanley rose in power and prominence and Livingstone found himself alone and in mortal danger. The first book to draw on modern research and to explore the combination of adventure, politics, and larger-than-life personalities involved, Into Africa is a riveting read.

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