The White Nile
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Few chapters of history burn as brightly as the Victorian obsession with Africa's great unknown — and The White Nile by Alan Moorehead brings that era roaring back to life. This masterful work of narrative history chronicles the dramatic race to discover the source of the Nile, tracing the expeditions of legendary figures such as Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, Samuel Baker, and General Gordon as they pushed into the uncharted heart of equatorial Africa. Moorehead reconstructs their triumphs and tragedies with the precision of a historian and the propulsive energy of a thriller writer, immersing the reader in a world of rivalry, hardship, and relentless ambition. The backdrop is a continent on the cusp of transformation, as European imperial ambitions collide violently with ancient kingdoms and fiercely independent peoples. Moorehead's singular achievement is to render grand, impersonal forces — empire, exploration, religion, and slavery — through the vivid particularity of individual human lives. His prose is elegant yet accessible, carrying the reader across scorching deserts, through tropical storms, and into the courts of African rulers with equal authority. The White Nile stands as a landmark of twentieth-century popular history, praised for its meticulous research and its ability to animate figures who might otherwise remain dusty footnotes. It is a book that leaves one wondering not only at the audacity of those who ventured into the unknown, but at the immense cost — human and moral — that their ambitions ultimately exacted.
Author: Alan Moorehead
Format: Paperback
Genre: African history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Few chapters of history burn as brightly as the Victorian obsession with Africa's great unknown — and The White Nile by Alan Moorehead brings that era roaring back to life. This masterful work of narrative history chronicles the dramatic race to discover the source of the Nile, tracing the expeditions of legendary figures such as Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, Samuel Baker, and General Gordon as they pushed into the uncharted heart of equatorial Africa. Moorehead reconstructs their triumphs and tragedies with the precision of a historian and the propulsive energy of a thriller writer, immersing the reader in a world of rivalry, hardship, and relentless ambition. The backdrop is a continent on the cusp of transformation, as European imperial ambitions collide violently with ancient kingdoms and fiercely independent peoples. Moorehead's singular achievement is to render grand, impersonal forces — empire, exploration, religion, and slavery — through the vivid particularity of individual human lives. His prose is elegant yet accessible, carrying the reader across scorching deserts, through tropical storms, and into the courts of African rulers with equal authority. The White Nile stands as a landmark of twentieth-century popular history, praised for its meticulous research and its ability to animate figures who might otherwise remain dusty footnotes. It is a book that leaves one wondering not only at the audacity of those who ventured into the unknown, but at the immense cost — human and moral — that their ambitions ultimately exacted.