The River of Doubt recounts Theodore Roosevelt's mapping of a previously unexplored river in South America following his election defeat in 1912. Ultimately lasting months, costing lives, and bringing Roosevelt to the brink of suicide, the journey of over more than one thousand miles of river proved to be more than anybody bargained for. The ill-prepared expedition encountered disease, deadly animals, swarms of insects, hostile natives, unknown plants, unforgiving climate, deadly rapids, near-starvation, and more as they battled against the unrelenting terrors of the Amazon rainforest. Would Roosevelt survive? History, of course, shows that he did.
Having previously read (and enjoyed) Millard's book about Garfield (reviewed here), I was excited for this one. It didn't disappoint, though it wasn't quite up to par with her prior book. The River of Doubt was informative, well-written, and exciting; on the downside, it got monotonous (the same challenges kept presenting themselves- over and over and over), seemed overly dramatic in places, and provided a lot of background about things that could detract from the main story- like facts about impressive rainforest ecosystem interrelationships, a short history of Indian tribal relations, or discussions of the continent's formation. It is good, in the end, and interesting- just not as spellbinding as I had hoped.
Rating: A-
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