How I Found Livingstone

This is a really boring book. The author, convinced of his own white superiority goes on and on making racist remarks. For example, when he was trying to build a bridge, he remarks, Be sure it was made quickly, for where the civilized white is found, a difficulty must vanish. At another point, he remarks Every pound of meat, and every three spoonfuls of musk or porridge I ate in Africa contained at least ten grains of sand. Ferajji was considerably exercised at a threat I made to him that on arrival at Zanzibar, I would get my gret English doctor there to open my stomach and count every grain of sand found in it, for each grain of which Ferraji should be charged one dollar. Imagine an explorer, even a racist one, complaining about sand in his food. Boy were those Victorian explorers used to luxury at the expense of native slaves. Ironically, at the same time he imagines himself to be a liberal, goes on and on about what wrongs his workers (whom he wouldnt call slaves, as he explains, in all his magnanimity, but wouldnt mind flogging or chaining) were idiots and ungrateful. The author shows the lack of respect for nature shown by most Europeans who were actually hunters and imagined themselves to be botanists and zoologists. For example, he writes: After seeing the work properly commenced, I sat down on a condemned canoe to amuse myself with the hippopotami by peppering their thick skulls with my No. 12 smooth bore. I found this statement quite disturbing. He misses out the entire point. Not a single map in the book. No mention of distances. No introduction to the origins and customs of the different tribes. I have read other travelogues of the time period, and while I have found all of them racial, many of them had excellent descriptions of the landscape, geographical features, distances, and anthropological customs. This book, unfortunately lacked all of them. Edit 1: A few years after the review, I happened to read more about this man in Hochschilds book Leopolds Ghost. Stanley grew up in Wales, and moved to America where he lied about his Welsh origin. He fought in both sides of the American Civil war, and was a deserter. Throughout his life, he was given to lying about his achievements and blowing them up way beyond proportion. He made most of his money inventing fantastic tales about his travels. During his travels, he himself indulged in a fair bit of tyrrany, and single handedly enabled King Leopold (of Belgium) set up a murderous regime in the Congo that was responsible for the death of about 10 million Congolesse.

I would have given this intriguing book five stars if it had been abridged and if it werent for errors in formatting that required adjusting the fonts from chapter to chapter. Henry M. Stanley (1841-1904) was retained by George Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald to travel to Africa to determine the fate of missionary and explorer Dr. David Livingstone. This book is an autobiographical account of Stanleys expedition. It is detailed and told with 19th Century verbosity, yet still manages to retain the readers interest until the very end. It would be still more interesting the casual reader if it were abridged by 30 percent. Stanley describes the plants and animals he encounters in great detail, as well as the topography and geology. These details lend a certain authenticity to the account, but quickly become boring. However, his accounts of the trials he faced from disease, weather, swamps, insects and nefarious tribal chieftains and Arab traders brings the toils of 19th Century African travel to life. I found his accounts of the brutalities and complexities of pre-modern Africa to be intriguing and educational. Stanley is often criticized for his occasional brutality, but this book makes clear that central Africa at the time was, itself, a brutal and unforgiving place. Inured to force and intimidation, the native peoples and Arab traders were unlikely to respond to much less. Part of the evidence of this is Livingstones own experiences; Livingstone was loved by the natives, but at the same time was the victim of thievery and cowardice. Stanley managed to overcome these problems, and was (in the end) respected by his followers. His methods (in alternating kind behavior with strict punishment) might have been the only way to accomplish his goal. I often found Stanleys account brutally believable. Central Africa had been intimidated by Arab ivory and slave traders for centuries, and a complex form of interaction between the Arabs and the natives had developed. It is noteworthy that whenever Stanley entered areas in which the Arabs had not intervened, the native Africans were more friendly and, usually, more well off. Stanley happened to enter this part of the world while it was just beginning its transition to modern times, accompanied by even greater brutality and exploitation. Another complaint one hears is that Stanley used racist language and wrote in terms of racial stereo types. If one applies modern standards to 19th Century writers, one would not read very much. In fact, people such as Stanley were conforming to the standards of their time. Those who make such criticisms are conforming to our times; if born in Stanleys time they most likely would have written much as he did. I should point out that this Kindle edition is not illustrated, nor are there any maps. I happen to have books on African exploration (including accounts of Stanleys travels) that do have maps. The reader will find this edition confusing without acquiring maps before starting the book. I assume they can be Googled as well.

If you enjoy history and the early days of the exploration of Africa, this book is for you!

This is a great book for those who would like to experience how Victorian men viewed Africa as well as what a great safari would have involved. As it is a day-by-day account, some of the geographical descriptions feel a little repetitive, but can be skimmed over without detracting from the story.It would be a great mistake to judge Stanley too critically by modern standards,however, or you may end up hating it from the beginning and getting nothing from it.

Reading this is almost like being with Stanley on his hunt for Livingston. If anyone saw the movie with Spencer Tracy, dont expect the book to be similar.

Ive had this eBook a long time. Im still only 40% into it. Its slow reading - more because Im easily preoccupied by fun things such as playing the Pinball Arcade than continuing to read. However, it IS interesting. Sure, its self serving, but what To Me, From Me, Love Me book isnt? Its rather fun to see and read about the Victorian attitudes of the day. NAACP, ACLU and half a dozen other abbreviations would haul your heinie in court and sue you to the moon and back if thats how you acted now.

I thought it was dated but that would be expected but I enjoyed it. I thought the choice of words at times was interesting.

I found this book very interesting. I was struck by the amazing tenacity and bravery that was shown by the party sent to find Dr Livingstone. The sheer will power of Sir Henry Stanley that made him push ahead despite he and his party facing extreme conditions and so many setbacks. Illness,attacks, thievery and nearly impassable terrain, plus food and water shortages among others, he still managed to achieved what he had set out to do. The story continues as Sir Henry Stanley greatly encouraged by his profound admiration of Dr David Livingstone whom he got to know so well, was able to play a significant role with Dr. Livingstone in further exploration.. The subsequent account of their travels and the difficulties they faced together shows the reader another side of both men and makes this book even more special.

I really liked this book but I gave 4 stars because he often seem to ramble into other stories. It was not hard to follow but I thought is had to many hmmmmmm asides I guess. But the look into Africa and the their way of life and especially the way they were thought of at the time and most especially the way they treated. I know that today it is still often thought that way and about our African-Americans here in the USA. It was hard to read because of the frankness in the truth. I do whole heartedly recommend this book to everyone. It should be required reading.

Sir Stanleys account of his trek through east Africa in the late 1860s has the potential to be both historically relevant and a real-life adventure story. He accurately records the travels over more than a year and notes both successes and failures, weather, terrain, peoples met, battles fought, and all sorts of administration problems a troop lead can encounter. Having siad that, this is not an illustrated book (despite the words in the title). I dont know if the printed copy contains drawings, photos, maps etc. but none of that shows up in the Kindle version and the story suffers greatly for that. In trying to locate some of the places identified in the book with any of the online mapping tools was practically impossible as place names have been significantly changed in the intervening 140+ years. This seriously degrades the book and cost 2 stars to the rating.