The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

Candice Millard's gripping account of Theodore Roosevelt's journey through previously unexplored Brazilian territory, The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey (#508) came to my notice in a decidedly unusual fashion.  My husband and I had attended a concert given by the Atlantic Classical Orchestra this season.  One of the hallmarks of this excellent orchestra is the commissioning of new works.  One of these works by Patrick Harlin was the composition River of Doubt, based on the book by Candice Millard.  (Follow the link to read & hear more about the piece:  River of Doubt Music. ) We thoroughly enjoyed the piece, but I determined that at some point I had to read the book that inspired the music, especially since I had devoured her work on James Garfield, Destiny of the Republic.  (See my post of 1/5/13.)

The River of Doubt lived up to its promise.  After Theodore Roosevelt fails to win a third term as President as the candidate of the Progressive "Bull Moose" Party, he is bored and stung by the public's failure to vote for him.  At a loose end, he is invited to take part in an expedition to South America, which will combine a speaking and diplomatic tour with a trip down several mapped rivers.  Somehow, the trips morphs into an exploration of unknown territory with a respected Brazilian, Candido Rondon, as co-leader.  To say that the trip was under planned, poorly provisioned and miraculous in that any of those who set out on the journey made it back to civilization is to understate the wretchedness of the entire enterprise.

If you've ever watched one of those horror movies when you just know that opening that door or climbing those stairs will end in disaster, you will have a very good idea of what it was like to follow the progress of the Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition.  "No, no!  Stop!" kept running through my mind reading about the men planning and executing this disastrous trip.  What were they thinking?  Rondon was willing to sacrifice the lives of everyone to map the River of Doubt, but if they all died in the process, what good would that do?  Loss of equipment, starvation, hostile Indians and a murderer amongst them soon changed Roosevelt's attitude about the journey.  But once launched, there was no way to go but forward.  Yet most of them did come back alive from this incredible journey (Roosevelt hovered near death and almost left his bones on the river!), only to be met with disbelief from the scientific community that they had been and done what they originally set out to do: add a thousand mile river to the map of Brazil.

After reading their tale, there's no doubt that Candice Millard tells a story here that truly is stranger than fiction.