by Candice Millard, 2005, Anchor Books, New York

I was not aware that Theodore Roosevelt, after his defeat in the 1912 presidential election, had embarked on a dangerous journey of exploration in the Amazon.  Having braved some somewhat less dangerous canoe trips in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota in my younger days, I was amazed at the hardships that Roosevelt and his group encountered.  On the trips I went on, we had all the best equipment, packed professionally by outfitters who knew what they were doing (with the possible exception of one trip where the new owners of the outfitting company gave us sleeping bags that were much too light for the season).  It is clear from this book that the persons planning Roosevelt’s trip had no idea what they were doing.  Also, this particular route had never been explored before and the individuals who were in charge didn’t have a good idea of what they were going to encounter.  Furthering the difficulties was the fact that the command of the trip was split between two individuals who had widely differing views of what they wanted to accomplish.  It is a wonder that they survived.

Despite the differences of my relatively safe excursions into the wilderness and Roosevelt’s journey, I found I could identify with some of the stresses that being isolated in a remote area creates.  I found myself reading just to find out what kinds of dangers were lurking around the next bend of the river.

Despite some dry passages where the author is describing the various insects and flora of the jungle, the book is very readable and tells a compelling story.  It is well done.