River of the Gods: Genius, Courage and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
Candice Millard
From the New York Times bestselling author of RIVER OF DOUBT and DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC, the stirring story of one of the great feats of exploration of all time, and its complicated legacyThe Nile River is the longest in the world. Its fertile floodplain allowed for rise to the great civilization of ancient Egypt, but for millennia the location of its headwaters was shrouded in mystery. Pharaonic and Roman attempts to find it were stymied by a giant labyrinthine swamp, and subsequent expeditions got no further. more
349 pages, Hardcover
First published Doubleday
3.84
Rating
13096
Ratings
1660
Reviews
Candice Millard
4 books 2468 followers
Candice Millard is a former writer and editor for National Geographic magazine. Her first book, The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey, was a New York Times bestseller and was named one of the best books of the year by the New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor, and Kansas City Star. The River of Doubt was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection and a Book Sense Pick, was a finalist for the Quill Awards, and won the William Rockhill Nelson Award. It has been printed in Portuguese, Mandarin, and Korean, as well as a British edition.Millard's second book, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine & the Murder of a President, rose to number five on The New York Times bestseller list and has been named a best book of the year by The New York Times, Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, The Kansas City Star, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. Destiny of the Republic won the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, the PEN Center USA award for Research Nonfiction, the One Book—One Lincoln Award, the Ohioana Award and the Kansas Notable Book Award.
Millard's work has also appeared in Time Magazine, Washington Post Book World, and the New York Times Book Review. She lives in Kansas City with her husband and three children.
Community reviews
An amazing book about the search for the sources of the Nile undertaken in the mid-19th century. It never ceases to amaze me how brave explorers were in the times when you could rely merely on your own abilities and courage to make journeys into uncharted territories. Fascinating account of how Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke, with the blessing of RGS, dared to travel to regions nearly unknown to Europeans. Their personal stories, especially that of Burton's, are equally incredibly captivating and compelling. Two strong individuals, fit for discovering the source of the Nile, were unfortunately not united in the goal, and I admit my heart was with Burton for the reasons so well-presented in the book. more
What is the extraordinary drive within that compels individuals to venture into near death experiences and profound dangers. Candice Millard presents the amazing quest undertaken by three men who took on the almost impossible task of finding the source of the Nile River. It is almost unimaginable to form the image of the treacherous circumstances undertaken with minimum equipment and the limited science of the day. Two of these men were both British with the third being African and a former slave. Millard begins with setting the stage in the form of the neck and neck competition between the French and the British in finding the Rosetta Stone during the Napoleonic era in 1822. more
As she did in “River of Doubt”, in this book the author combines the story of an exceptional man with a dangerous adventure. Sir Richard Francis Burton was an adventurer, author, poet and soldier. He spoke 29 languages, wrote a text book on sword fighting, was one of the first non-Muslims to reach Mecca, translated the Kama Sutra and other erotic texts and led two expeditions to discover the source of the Nile. Unfortunately for Burton, he was accompanied by John Hanning Speke. In Burton’s view, Speke was less experienced, spoke no other languages and was completely uninterested in Africa or it’s people. more
This may be the best book I have read this year and I am finally in the majority of other readers. I had read one other of Millard's works which I thoroughly enjoyed and when I saw the reviews for this one, I knew that it would be equally interesting and well-written. It certainly was. This is basically the story of two men, Sir Richard Burton and John Speke as they search for the source of the White Nile River. and the aftermath. more
“I do not wish well to discoveries for I am always afraid they will end in conquest and robbery. " - Samuel Johnson after the unsuccessful Arctic expedition of Captain Constantine Phipps in 1773“By Burton's death it was clear to every European nation not only where Africa's lakes and rivers, mountains and forests lay but that it held vast, enviable natural resources, from its diamonds and gold to iron, uranium, and petroleum. In what became known as the ‘Scramble for Africa’ the continent was invaded, occupied, and colonized. By the early 1900s, seven European countries would control more than 90 percent of Africa, leaving only scattered pockets of independence - the Empire of Ethiopia in the east and Liberia in the west - on a continent of more than eleven million square miles. ”************William Hamilton, a British officer in Alexandria during the 1801 defeat of Napoleon, was charged with seizing the Rosetta Stone, a key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. more
(Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this work courtesy of NetGalley)I will start up by honestly stating that Candice Millard’s River of the Gods admittedly wasn’t able to grip me nearly as much as her past works, River of Doubt and Destiny of the Public, were successfully able to. Still, as per usual with her books, I found an enjoyably great deal to learn about thanks to an excellent level of historical detail. Until now I had no idea that the Nile River, despite being the foundation for some of the oldest continuously (human) inhabited places in the entire world, remained a mystery in regards to its origin point. Neither did I have any prior knowledge about Richard Burton or John Speke, the men who sought to discover these mysterious headwaters, the intense clash of pride and personalities that would shape their hazardous expeditions and the developed enmity that would shape their relationship and their legacies in the long years to come. Overall, it made for very interesting reading. more
(3. 3) I am a Millard fan. She can take some of the most popular (and even less-popular) figures in Western history and create a narrative that speaks volumes about the topic she's writing about. This book was no different, yet the subject matter was, at times, not as harrowing or thrilling as her previous subjects. Richard Francis Burton was an interesting enough guy and John Hanning Speke, together with Burton was interesting enough, but the story as a whole. more
3. 5 ☆ If perchance during your internet meanderings, you've ever looked up who "discovered" the source of the Nile, you'd find the name John Hanning Speke. His name has also been memorialized on a large obelisk standing in London's Kensington Gardens. But Speke did not make this discovery solely by his own efforts. River of the Gods is about the 19th century explorers who sought the Nile's headwaters. more
Candice. I hate writing this review. Millard's three previous books have been absolute nails. I had zero doubts this one would be too. But shoot. more
This book is about the nineteenth century search for the source of the Nile River. (We’re referring to the White Nile. The Blue Nile branch which originates in Ethiopia was previously found. ) Finding the source required more than simply walking along the edge of the river until the end was reached. Explorers had tried that since Ancient Greek and Roman days and in the vicinity of today’s southern Sudan they encountered impassable swampland. more
DNF at 12%. Very dry writing and I really don't care about all these people and their lives and personalities, and what they did prior to the expedition. I just wanted to read about the expedition itself, not all this silly, boring filler. Having trouble staying awake as it is. . more
What can I say about Candice Millard that I haven't said before. She is a very talented writer, one who again has written a great story. This is something of a departure for Ms. Millard. Her past works have had as their subjects Presidents and Prime Ministers (Garfield, Theodore Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill). more
Richard Burton joins the contingent of people from the past with whom I would love to have a conversation over a long dinner. Explorer, poet, linguist and translator; a man who loved to study other cultures and was not content just to hear about others experiences. Millard's new book is not so much a book about a single expedition, but rather a study of the state of British exploration in the 1850s and its leading figures (Burton, Speke, Livingston, Murchison, etc. ). The Royal Geographical Society was focused on the source of the Nile at that time, and 'River of the Gods' covers Burton and Speke's expeditions in East Africa and the implications of their complicated relationship thereafter. more
Ever since I first listened to The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey over a decade ago, I have been a Candice Millard fan. I also am thrilled to call her a local artist as she lives just across the state line from me in the Kansas side of the KC Metro area. At times, this new title from Millard reminded me of that Teddy Roosevelt book. The trials and tribulations of exploring the African continent had many similarities to that of the Amazon decades later. As with all of the other books I have read by Millard, the amount of research done for the book is above and beyond. more
― “The most famous early conjecturer about the source of the Nile was the legendary Egyptian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer Ptolemy. Relying largely on reports from a Greek trader named Diogenes, who had traveled twenty-five days inland from the eastern coast of Africa, Ptolemy placed the source of the Nile in two large lakes that flowed out of a snow-topped mountain range Diogenes had named the Mountains of the Moon. ”― Candice Millard, River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the NileCandice Millard’s latest book, River of the Gods, is about the search for the source of the Nile, the longest and most storied river in the world. To modern minds that have watched men walk on the moon, explore the depths of the Marianas Trench, or seen photographs sent from the surface of Mars, an exploration to find the source of the Nile might seem pretty tame. But in the middle of the 19th century, when most of the African continent was unknown to Europeans, it was one of the greatest unsolved mysteries. more
Finding the source of the White Nile was a major challenge to 19th century adventurers. The terrain traveling south from Egypt stymied explorers as far back as the Romans, and as of the mid-1800s there was no written record of the entire course of this longest river in the world. In 1854 a British team attempted an approach that would have them start from the coast of Somaliland and head west until they reached the Nile, then follow it south. This effort came to nothing after the group was attacked by local warriors who destroyed all their goods and killed or wounded many of their number. Two years later, after word reached Europe of one or more huge lakes in central east Africa, a new idea was born: start from the coast even farther south, near Zanzibar, travel west to find the rumored lake(s) and determine whether it/they could be the source. more
An ancient riddle. Characters larger than life. Adventure full of hardship and danger. Epic personal conflict. Sweeping drama between triumph and despair, fame and oblivion. more
Interesting, though not as good as Candice Millard's other books, all of which I've read. I suspect that she had less material to work with on this one as far as characters and subject matter. The story is also a bit depressing throughout. That said, Millard is an excellent writer, and there are a wealth of fascinating stories contained in these pages. The book does get off track at times by following the personal stories of its main subjects, even in areas totally unrelated to the search for the Nile. more
True story of the mid-1850s expeditions to discover the source of the White Nile. Led by Richard Burton, accompanied by John Hanning Speke and Sidi Mubarak Bombay, the team traveled through eastern Africa from Zanzibar to Lake Tanganyika. They encounter many obstacles – they are almost killed by warriors and disease, navigate extremely treacherous terrain, and experience shortages of supplies. The historical context before and after their journeys is incorporated into the narrative. Aside from the exploration aspect, the storyline covers the larger-than-life personalities involved and the conflicts that arose between Burton and Speke, which eventually ended their friendship. more
It was painful giving a book by Millard two stars, but here we are. I absolutely loved Destiny of a Republic and River of Doubt but this book was just. boring. It's about two completely unlikable guys named Speke and Burton who liked to brag about how much better and smarter they were than everyone around them. The title made me think the book would focus purely on the Nile and that there would be lots of exploration and adventure, like in River of Doubt, but instead it was about two of the most boring men to exist bragging about themselves. more
This book describes the characters of the explorers who sought and found a major source of the Nile at the Nyanza/Lake Victoria. The characters of the explorers Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke were described in detail. It was like reading an unruly convoluted moral inventory in many ways. I want the restraint of Oscar Wilde as seen in his De Profundis. The restraint here lies in beating the broken-back horse of 19th-century prejudices. more
This is not what I was expecting. I loved her The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey and thought this would also focus on the expeditions to discover the source of the Nile. While there was some of the deprivations the men experienced, this was mostly about the personality clashes between Richard Burton (always thought of the actor) and John Speke. Burton had enough ego to serve half the planet. Speke also had some ego, but it seemed he also suffered occasionally from an inferiority complex which he tried to hide by proclaiming his superiority. more
Having just been in Cairo, Luxor, and the West Bank a few months ago, Millard’s trip back in time to the Nile region felt oddly familiar. I spent hours in the archeological museum in Cairo (tidbit for Brendan Fraser fans - they filmed scenes from The Mummy there) and learned not just about ancient Egypt, but the type of explorers who were obsessed with learning more and more, often at risk of peril. At risk of death. The two men in this outstanding read were, to me, not especially likeable, but as usual for her detailed work, Millard portrayed them as they were. Maybe because of my hours in the old museum in Cairo and in having been underground myself in the tunneled tomb network of pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings, my curiosity about the type of men and women who’d go to wild lengths to learn and document made me the perfect reader-match for this book. more
NEW CANDICE MILLARD. *slams pre-order button*Edit: a somewhat qualified 4 stars for me. This was a good, well-researched work of nonfiction, and I’m nearly as fascinated by Burton and as infuriated by Speke as the author intends us to be. I do love reading perilous exploration narratives, and this one is peppered up with lots of juicy rivalry and betrayal. Millard is very careful to put Burton’s and his contemporaries’ writings and travels in context and to decry the racist, colonialist aspects of their work and even to mention (albeit in an afterword) the immeasurable harm they did, and to give some credit to the Black guides and fellow explorers who made these trips possible and survivable. more
Candice Millard does it again. The queen of historical narrative non-fiction. Excellent summer read. more
Fabulous history. Millard has a gift for taking the real facts and making it read like a novel. She makes the history come alive. Loved it. more
Interesting, but sometime a wee bit too in the weeds about the participants rather than furthering the narrative along. more
The egos and eccentricities of the explorers of the Victorian era are very wild, they were definitely people who lived large, fast, and loud. The thing is, as this book explains very well, they didn’t often do the exploration alone. As interesting as the explorers are, I think the inclusion and exploration of the other people who made these expeditions happen really elevated this book. The story of the woman who wants to be an explorer, the story of a former slave who’s explorations put the greatest European explorers to shame, and many others who are essential to understanding this movement in this period of time. The context here makes a difference, both relative to the norms of the time, and to the world we live in today. more
As a boy there was time when I was reading about many famous explorers. Ferdinand Magellan, Ponce de León, Balboa, and of course Christopher Columbus. I had never even heard of Richard Francis Burton. In the 19th century he was famous. He was the first non-Muslim to travel to Mecca, disguised as an Arab chieftain and he spoke twenty-nine languages. more
Two explorers from England, Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke, are sent by the Royal Geographical Society to explore and identify the source of the great Nile River in the mid 1800s. Burton was known for his study of cultures and languages, Speke for his hunting conquests, and both men had very different personalities, of strong will and ego. They forge an alliance of sorts at the beginning of their journey, but their challenges in managing their resources, their expedition party, and their health becomes an albatross. What they did have to get them through was the expertise of Sidi Mubarak Bombay, a freed slave who was their local expedition guide. Without Bombay these two would not have made it out alive. more