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 have many 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. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

David Livingstone's search for the source of the Nile and Henry Morton Stanley's subsequent search for Livingstone are two of the most famous quest stories to come out of colonial Africa. Dugard's rendering of the tale is immediate and engrossing. In the late 1860s, Livingstone, seeking the elusive source of the Nile, journeyed far into the interior of Africa, eventually reaching the Lualaba River, which he was convinced was the source. Back in Victorian England, members of the Royal Geographic Society were frantic because they hadn't been able to contact Livingstone. They feared he was dead. Across the pond, the ambitious owner of the New York Herald got word of Livingstone's plight and decided to send daredevil reporter Stanley to find the lost explorer. Stanley journeyed to Zanzibar, where he assembled a motley group and loaded up with supplies. But the dangers that awaited them were beyond Stanley's imaginings. Drawing from the explorers' copious diaries, Dugard imbues the narrative with a keen sense of urgency that propels this compelling account along. --Kristine Huntley Copyright 2003 Booklist

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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

An adventurer himself (he's coauthor of the best-selling Survivor), Dugard tells the greatest adventure story of them all. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved