Download The River of Doubt Theodore Roosevelt Darkest Journey Audible Audio Edition Candice Millard Paul Michael Books on Tape Books

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 12 hours and 17 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher Books on Tape Audible.com Release Date October 21, 2005 Language English, English ASIN B000BUMW3C

The River of Doubt Theodore Roosevelt Darkest Journey Audible Audio Edition Candice Millard Paul Michael Books on Tape Books Reviews

• This was Candice Millard's first book of history and biography, and it was made for her.
  
  Millard's style is to take a major figure in history and focus on a single, often obscure slice of the figure's life. In her book on Churchill, it was his early adventures and the Boer Wars in South Africa. Here, she takes an historical look at Theodore Roosevelt's adventures in the Basin after his two terms as President and his devastating loss for a third term in the three-way race in 1912.
  
  River of Doubt is a wonderful story of adventure and misadventure. Its backdrop is a tributary, previously unexplored by Westerners, of the . It has everything a reader would want the mysteries and terror of the jungle, the incredible and deadly complexity of the river, the inept preparations for the adventure, the wild and unknown Indians of the region, needless deaths, murder, history, and the bigger-than-life story of the aging Teddy, his son, Kermit, and the rest of the exploration party.
  
  I enjoyed it totally. Millard's Churchill book was good, but it suffered from often static setting, mostly in a Boer prison. This book has a built-in momentum, as the ill-prepared group make their way down the river into the unknown. It is the perfect story for Candice Millard, and she tells it perfectly.
• I heard Candice Millard on a John Grishham book tour podcast and was intrigued by her background and the meticulous research behind her books. (My gosh, the one she DIDN'T write about Ben Franklin - and why - says worlds about the authenticity this author brings to the table!)
  
  This tale of Roosevelt's ill-conceived and ill-fated expedition through the reads almost as much like a novel as a documentary. I particularly enjoyed the insights into Roosevelt's personality - his earliest motivations and his rigorous discipline to refuse the hand early life dealt him. The same could be said of Captain Rondon, the Brazilian lead on the trip.
  
  The science and history lessons are so integral to the story (or the story is so inherent in the science and history) that you'll likely find yourself smarter and wiser and more emotionally attuned to both nature and human nature for having read this book.
• What a wonderful book!! Having read previous biographies of "Teedy" I came to this book with an already favorable image of this man who overcame severe asthma in childhood and, indeed, met all obstacles with a sense of perseverance and a firm belief that one must grasp life with both hands and always do the best with the gifts we are given. While this book shows more of his vulnerability, both physically and emotionally, it did nothing to diminish my admiration of this wonderful man. What a National Treasure!!
  Now I come to the author, Candice Millard. As I continued reading the book I was amazed over and over again at the sheer amount of research and the amount of talent it took to put all these facts into a cohesive and very entertaining story!!
  I wholeheartedly recommend this book!!!!!! Five stars to the story, itself. Five stars to the author. Five stars to Theodore Roosevelt. My only regret is I was given the option of just five stars.
• Candace Millard has written a wrenching story about Teddy Roosevelt's post-presidential adventure in 1914 on the then uncharted River of Doubt, a tributary of the . He was accompanied by Candido Rondon, George Cherrie, and his 24 year old son, Kermit, among others. She reveals through her well-researched book Roosevelt's phenomenal character, discipline, courage and vitality, as well as his strict adherence to personal sacrifice for the benefit of his comrades, to thoughtful generosity, and to equality of treatment for others even to his own detriment. When his own serious illness became burdensome he even offered his own life to preserve the safety of his fellow travelers. The devotion of father and son to each other was especially inspiring as they confronted death continually from the indigenous tribe on the east bank, from malaria, from starvation, and from the river's torturous rapids. The book underscores our mortality and how dangerous adventures like Roosevelt's simultaneously enhance and reduce our brief existence. Millard has written an historically rich and fascinating work.
• While I enjoyed the expedition of T Roosevelt in the region of South American very much and the difficulties the men went through while following the River of Doubt, I got very tired and somewhat discouraged with the detailed discussion of the relationship of vines, epiphytes and trees; and the life and legend of the bloodsucking catfishes and many other symbiotic relationships between plants, ant and humans. I felt these were "fillers" in the book, of interest to some, but distracting to me. Again, the pre-historic following of the Indians could be interesting, if I wasn't so interested in how these brave men managed to complete their goal of making it home with diseases, starvation and depression.