Book Description
Relive all the thrills and adventure of Alan Moorehead's classic bestseller The White Nile -- the daring exploration of the Nile River in the second half of the nineteenth century, which was at that time the most mysterious and impenetrable region on earth. Capturing in breathtaking prose the larger-than-life personalities of such notable figures as Stanley, Livingstone, Burton and many others, The White Nile remains a seminal work in tales of discovery and escapade, filled with incredible historical detail and compelling stories of heroism and drama.
Customer Reviews:
A Must for Understanding Exploration of Africa 1.......2007-07-23
I read the book 1983 and got a new copy for a friend which I reread. It had not lost any of Alan Moorehead's fascinating way of approaching the subject. Unfortunately the pocket edition was not illustrated! A must for everybody interested in Africa!
A Fascinating History.......2007-05-10
I read this history 35 years ago when I was in the Sudan. It was absolutely riviting. I would also recommend the "Blue Nile," by Alan Moorehead. The story of the discovery of the sources of these two mighty rivers kept me turning the pages.
For a super novel about Africa, check out "Cry Wolf," by Wilbur Smith.
Cry Wolf
Another wonderful novel is "Sands of the Karahari," by William Mulvihill. Click here: The Sands of Kalahari
Please check out my other longer reviews, as well as my one-star reviews of books written by Mormons in defense of the Book of Mormon.Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling
Your comments--positive or negative--are appreciated. Thanks.
An interesting history of early exploration in Africa.......2006-12-28
As I recall, I learned effectively zero about African history in high school or college. A friend recommended this book as an interesting history of early exploration in Africa, covering roughly the period of 1850 through 1910. It begins with Burton & Speke setting off from Zanzibar to try and discover the source of part of the Nile River, known as the White Nile. That epedition and many, many others are summarized and discussed, with nice quotes from the writings of the actual explorers.
Drawings on writings and newspapers from the times, and obviously very careful research, the author relates the history of the exploration and "discovery" (by the white man) of Africa, primarily in the region of modern day Uganda and Tanzania, with a little bit of overlap into Zanzibar, Kenya, Egypt, Sudan, Rawanda and Ethiopia.
I found it to be a compelling and enjoyable read. While it would be fascinating beyond belief to read written accounts by Africans life and history in 1850 and before, the absence of a written language in many tribes means its not available. While I don't always like what early explorers had to say about the Africans they met, when they reveal their observations I can take those and reject their judgments and at least learn something more than I knew before about these countries. Moorehead does a great job of weavcing together available information to try and give a picture of what life was like then for the explorers, those reading about the expeditions back home, and the natives both being "discovered" and being hired as porters and guides on the expeditions.
The White Nile (The Worst Book Ever Written).......2006-12-24
This book is terrible. It is very boring and way too detailed. He repeats everything for 10 pages and goes on and on about the slave traders. The names that he has for the chapters don't even talk about what they say they are going to talk about. This book is terrible and I don't recommend it to any one
Did I read the same book?.......2006-10-25
I think I must have read the same book as the other reviewers. I mean it clearly included the same subject matter, shared the title and author of the book that the others enjoyed. But I found it incredibly British-centric and, worse still, quite boring. I agree with many of the statements made by the reviewer David W. Nicholas but came to a compeletely different conclusion. This book is certainly condescending and politically incorrect. If I were more interested in the history of this region and period I'd pursue other sources to see how accurate its portrayal of the native Africans and Arabs is, but I'm not. Lest we judge these cultures too harshly, we ought to take a look into what shape the last 120 odd years of "progress" have left the Suddan.
Book Description
This book covers the history of the Nile Valley from Nubia to the Mediterranean, during the period from the earliest hominid settlement, around 700,000 BC to the beginnings of dynastic Egypt at the end of the fourth millennium BC.The book focuses primarily on the fifteen millennia from 18,000 to 3,000 BC, when different cultures can be identified, and the earliest forms of agriculture traced with some detail. Textile and ceramic production began at the end of the seventh millennia and were deployed with great skill and considerable sophistication by the beginning of the Old Dynastic Period at around 4,500 BC. By the time of the First Dynastic Period much that is considered characteristic of Ancient Egypt, such as cosmology, burial rites and decorated pottery, was already established tradition.This account of prehistoric Egypt will be welcomed as an outstanding narrative, combining both scholarship and accessibility.
Customer Reviews:
If you're looking for thorough..........2002-01-05
...this is what you need. Covering Egypt from the landmass's geological foundation right up to the end of the predynastic era. It's been freshly updated by Ian Shaw to include all of the latest arguments, especially with respect to the Paleolithic and Predynastic periods. Most Egyptologists, amateur and otherwise, will only be interested in the last two or three chapters and, in fairness, each chapter uses the lingo of the relevant field, obfuscating it to the average reader. Nonetheless, I can't think of another book which rivals this one for what it offers.
Book Description
In the first half of the nineteenth century, only a small handful of Westerners had ventured into the regions watered by the Nile River on its long journey from Lake Tana in Abyssinia to the Mediterranean-lands that had been forgotten since Roman times, or had never been known at all. In The Blue Nile, Alan Moorehead continues the classic, thrilling narration of adventure he began in The White Nile, depicting this exotic place through the lives of four explorers so daring they can be considered among the world's original adventurers -- each acting and reacting in separate expeditions against a bewildering background of slavery and massacre, political upheaval and all-out war.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating History of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.......2007-07-23
The first time I read the book in 1983 and as I got a copy for a friend I reread it now. As good as 24 years ago and a wonderful way of combining history and exploration for better understanding Africa's later development. A must for everybody trying to understand Africa. Unfortunately the paperback edition is not illustrated.
Absorbing history.......2007-01-21
This book deals with history and culture along the Nile from 1798 to 1868 whilst the author's other book The White Nile explores the history from 1856 to 1900. Both books are masterpiecs of history, geography and ethnography. The Blue Nile chronicles events on the Nile from Ethiopia through Sudan to the sea but also deals with European history in the way it impacted on the Nile and the areas under discussion. It is an impressive resource of the events, the personalities involved and the people groups of this vast region.
Part One: Reconnaissance, opens with a description of Lake Tana in the highlands of Ethiopia. Although the lake is considered the primary source of the Blue Nile, the Little Abbai river which flows from the Ghis Abbai swamp is the largest tributary to Lake Tana. Where it leaves the lake, the river is called the Big Abbai. The author descibed the landscape of the highlands, the Tissat Falls about 20 miles beyond the lake and the desolate Blue Nile gorge as the river winds down the highlands to Sudan. This section also investigates the exploits of explorer James Bruce in Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. He was the first European to reach the source of the river.
Part Two: The French in Egypt, discusses the political situation in Europe in the 1790s and the background to Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. There are detailed descriptions of the preparations and the condition of Egypt at the time with discussions of Mamluke rule and the leader Murad. The French moved as far south as Aswan and completed the conquest by October 1799. Then the English destroyed their fleet and they were trapped in Egypt.
Part Three: The Turks In The Sudan, takes up the history from 1801 when the English and the Turks defeated the French and narrates the rise of Muhammad Ali, an Albanian Turk who took control of Egypt and destroyed the remnants of the Mamlukes. The life and travels of the great explorer James Lewis Burkhart are investigated here. He was a most reliable and observant traveller who wrote about all aspects of life along the river. It was in this time that the city of Khartoum was founded.
Part Four: The British In Ethiopia, chronicles the situation in Ethiopia under Emperor Theodore. He held some Europeans hostage so a British expeditionary force under Napier was sent to rescue the prisoners. The trials and tribulations of the force are discussed in great detail. The Magdala campaign eventually led to the collapse of the Ethiopian empire as it then existed and the land split into areas controlled by war-lords.
In the Epilogue, Moorehead points out that the aforementioned events finally ended the isolation of the Nile valley from Lake Tana to the sea and that these countries would never be the same again. He also provides a description of Lake Tana at the time of the book's publication. The Blue Nile contains a map and a section on Sources, arranged by chapter and with comments by the author. The book concludes with an index. It is a most illuminating and engaging work. I highly recommend The White Nile by the same author, where the narrative continues up to the year 1900.
Very interesting background on 19th century Sudan and Ethiopia.......2006-10-10
I have read a lot of history on ancient Egypt and was passingly familiar with Napoleon's conquest of Egypt, however, I had absolutely no background on other aspects of 19th century Egypt and neighboring Sudan and Ethiopia.
This book was extremely enlightening with respect to such subjects as Mamaluke rule of Egypt prior to Napoleon's arrival and the subsequent reign of Muhammad Ali. However, by far the most interesting and educational part of the book was the last half which dealt primarily with the reign of Theodore, Emperor of Ethiopia and the British invasion to secure the release of European hostages held by Theodore. Prior to reading this book, I'd never heard of Theodore nor the British invasion of Ethiopia.
Blue Nile is a companion piece to White Nile, the Blue Nile being the Nile tributary which feeds into the river at Khartoum, Sudan having flowed from its source in the Ethiopian highlands. Moorehead does a very good job in describing the various expeditions which sought the source of the Blue Nile as well as the political and social anarchy endemic to the region.
Blue Nile.......2006-03-09
The book is slanted towards the history of battles fought over lands in the region and has only glancing information on things like the arts and culture of the region. The chapters on the French invasion of Egypt does have some interesting observations on the reactions of the various groups to being invaded and occupied that are still relevant and timely.
no title.......2006-01-22
Totally fascinating book. In particular the saga of the British invasion of Ethiopia merely to rescue a few handfuls of prisoners from the clutches of Theodore, the emperor, would make a terrific movie, but perhaps just now, not too terribly PC, as Theodore does not come off in a very good light (to say the least), and of course he is black. Also charts Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. It is basically a study of the history of the Nile in the 19th century, well only until 1868, when the British left, and a brief epilogue about the Blue Nile in the 20th century until the 70s when the book was revised. The other two expeditions recounted were the one of James Bruce, the Scotsman, and Mohammed Ali's campaigns in the Sudan in the early 1820s. Suberb.
Book Description
A thrilling account of the greatest geographical expedition of our time-the first-ever complete descent of the Nile River.
Over the past century, many explorers have attempted to run the magnificent Nile, but none succeeded. At least a dozen men died trying, and since 1964, three explorers have been shot, two have drowned, and another simply disappeared.
In April 2004, the renowned adventurer Pasquale Scaturro made history when he completed his epic journey down the Nile in 114 days, traveling 3,250 miles by kayak, from its source in Ethiopia to the shores of Alexandria, where it flows into the Mediterranean Sea. He ran the great river in the face of such obstacles as deadly crocodiles and hippos, arrests by Ethiopian and Egyptian militia, gunfire from Sudanese bandits, extreme temperatures, violent sandstorms, and exposure to malaria.
He details his historical quest here, with critically acclaimed coauthor Richard Bangs, in a breathtaking tale that features a beautiful collection of photographs. MacGillivray Freeman Films is releasing an IMAX movie in conjunction with the book.
Customer Reviews:
Flawed but fascinating.......2007-01-20
Richard Bangs' "Mystery of the Nile" takes the reader on a wild journey from the source of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia to the Mediterranean Sea. The story has all the elements of a great off-the-beaten-path adventure. You'll hear about Class VI rapids, obstinate government officials, ornery hippos, breathtaking scenary, and even the creepy intrusion of a tapeworm. The main problem with the book is that Bangs didn't actually make the journey. Rather, he relied on the journal entries and personal conversations with Pasquale Scaturro, an American outdoorsman who was the leader of this expedition.
Bangs can be forgiven for his vivid descriptions of scenes never seen. Poetic license, and all for the better. Where Bangs' dialogue grates is in his treatment of Scaturro's sidekick, Gordon Brown. Brown is raked over the coals for his irrational decisions and emotional tirades. Only at the end of the book does Bangs try to reconcile things by chalking up Brown's behavior to his cancer survivorship. There's no evidence that Bangs ever interviewed Brown following the adventure, nor attempted to come to terms with his side of the story.
Like watching a big-budget Hollywood movie, if you can ignore nit-picky things like gaping holes in consistency and reality, you'll certainly enjoy the experience all the more. There's a lot to like about "Mystery of the Nile", particularly if you're in it for the perils of the journey, not the personalities of those involved.
Mystery of the Nile: The Epic Story of the First Descent of the World's Deadliest River .......2007-01-09
I bought this movie for my girlfriend after we'd been to the IMAX about three or four times to see it. Since then, we've probably seen it another nine or ten times. It really is a fascinating and exciting story about an expedition down the Nile.
This is a great movie for anyone interested in nature and adventrure!
Better than the IMAX production.......2006-06-01
I loved the IMAX film production of Mystery of the Nile, and decided to pick up the book that accompanied it after wanting to know more about it. The editor, Richard Bangs, pieces together personal recollections of the actual "adventure team" leader, Pasquale Scaturro, with his own personal anecdotes (though he was never actually part of the expedition) into an engaging story.
This expedition down the Nile River, from it's source at the White Nile to its ocean connection in Cairo, Egypt, is the first successful of its kind. The novel traces the hardships the teams faces while on the river, and off. In addition, it gives a good basic idea on the cultures and natural environments surrounding the Nile, but nothing very detailed. There were parts, however, that I found less than relative to the actual journey, which included blurbs on past adrenaline-exploits of Scaturro's to the point of slightly excessive, but interesting in its own accord. It has been over a year since I have read this book, and regret that I cannot summarize it in a more complete manner, but if you are looking for an easy, attractive novel to sit on the porch and read, give it a shot.
We need another version of this trip.......2006-03-07
Pasquale Scaturro and Gordon Brown make the first "source to sea" expedition down the Nile. It is a splendid adventure that would make a great story. Unfortunately, the author spends nearly a third of the pages interjecting musings from himself (he wasn't there) and boring the reader with sideline stories that that have little if any connection with the current expedition. Just as the reader gets swept up in the adventure, the author interupts the scene with some left field factoid and destroys any sense of cadence. It's almost as bad as being in the grip of a televised Olympic event and having it interrupted by an inane story about the father of one of the athletes.
The author, Richard Bangs, wasn't on the trip but writes an almost first person narrative based on interviews with Scaturro and assorted other people. Inexplicably, he doesn't interview Gordon Brown who comprised a full 50% of the expedition. Instead he castigates Brown at every turn for being moody, violent, "silent for days", self-absorbed, etc., etc. At no point does the author offer any explanation why Brown might be behaving the way he does. The reader is left wondering why and a simple over-the-phone interview of Brown would have answered these questions.
In the final chapters Bangs decides (again, without talking to Brown) that Brown's anti-social behavior is linked to a brain cancer that has long-since been cured. Not only is it a convenient way for Bangs to avoid doing his homework and writing a definitive documentary; it's a blatantly cheap shot at Brown and any other person who has been challenged with a handicap - temporary or not.
This is a wonderful adventure that deserves an honest, accurate, and well rounded accounting by a first rate author who isn't afraid to dig for details and doesn't have some personal axe to grind.
Gripping adventure!.......2005-10-12
This book tells the amazing, almost unbelievable, story of two adventurers who navigate a hostile and souless river--through crocodiles, bandits, hippos, blinding sand storms, malaria, voracious insects, civil wars. In addition to the gripping and compelling adventure, the history of the Nile and the surrounding regions is explored, the politics of Africa are discussed (including the impact of US involvement), and the impact of poverty and big business on the environment is explored. For those who are fans of Everest adventures, their are lots of comments regarding past attempts on the summit. Don't miss the IMAX movie, either. It is amazing. For Christians, I must warn that this book contains strong humanist themes--"There they discover a mirror in which they see their own faces, and learn that the savior they sought was within themselves"--which are disquieting. However, I loved this book--it painted pictures in my mind that will remain forever.
Average customer rating:
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The Quest For The Secret Nile: Victorian Exploration in Equatorial Africa 1857-1888
Guy Yeoman
Manufacturer: Chaucer Press
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ASIN: 1904449158 |
Book Description
The Nile, stretching for a distance of 4,163 miles, is the longest river in the world. The ancient Greeks were obsessed by the provenance of so much water, feeding a river that flowed out of the desert. Aeschylus, in 500 BC, talked of Egypt being nurtured by the snows. For centuries, the only sporadic reports from the heart of equatorial Africa came from Arab seafarers, land travellers and slavers. In the mid-1850s in Britain, the great thirst for adventure and discovery, combined with the challenge posed by the ancient riddle of the secret sources of the Nile and acted like a magnet on men such as Sir Richard Burton, Captain Hanning Speke, Samuel Baker, Dr David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley. This gripping account, illustrated with many prize-winning photographs, traces the tribulations and achievements of the men who walked in the footsteps of Herodotus and carried away the prize: the discovery of the sources of the Nile.
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The River Nile in the Age of the British
Terje Tvedt
Manufacturer: I. B. Tauris
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ASIN: 1860648355 |
Book Description
The importance of the Nile is greater than ever. It plays a crucial role in the economics, politics and cultural life of the ten countries through which it runs and is the subject of heated debate for their 300 million inhabitants. The River Nile in the Age of the British provides a detailed account of what happened in the most revolutionary period of the river's history. It provides new interpretations and explanations of many of the political events of the period and sheds new light on important regional and national questions.
Product Description
There is so much in store on this incredible journey enormous statues and temples, the legendary Sphinx, tombs and mummies, and of course the Great Pyramids. With seven exciting destinations, a god or goddess on each page, and informative notes at the end, you will be an Egypt expert in no time!
Customer Reviews:
Fun book and great for learning about the Nile and ancient Egypt.......2007-07-06
I bought this book as a gift because I was so impressed with how much fun the book is and how educational the book manages to be at the same time. I have recently come back from a trip to Egypt and I took a cruise down the Nile River. This book although superficial in details(clearly because of the age range) does cover the key points of the trip from Aswan up the Nile River as well as plenty of background material on Ancient Egyptian history in the back. I have always felt it is critical that kids are exposed to history and cultures through their reading and this book does that well. On top of being educational it is very colorful and very much a fun book.
Book Description
Prepare to embark upon a breathtaking adventure, brimming with hair-raising rescues, impossible quests, danger, discovery, catastrophe, mutiny, and uncompromising love -- all the more remarkable because every word is true. Acclaimed New York Times and Los Angeles Times Notable author Pat Shipman now brings to vivid life the times and great achievements of a singular explorer, a woman of unparalleled courage and spirit who helped redefine her world.
Florence Szász was a child in Eastern Europe when she witnessed the slaughter of her family during the Hungarian revolution. After the war, she was kidnapped from a refugee camp in the Ottoman Empire and sold to be raised for the harem. In 1859, at age fourteen, she stood before a room full of men and waited to be auctioned to the highest bidder. But slavery and submission were not to be her destiny; one of the assembled was moved by compassion and an immediate, overpowering empathy for the helpless young woman. His name was Sam Baker, a wealthy English gentleman and eminent adventurer who braved extraordinary perils to aid her escape. Ultimately they would wed and venture together into some of the most inaccessible regions on Earth.
At this tender age, Florence Baker had already seen and experienced more than most women of the Victorian era. But the greatest adventures were still before her. By the side of the man who had set her free -- and whose love would remain passionate and constant for the remainder of their lives -- she forged ahead into literally uncharted territory. Together, they confronted disease, starvation, and hostile tribesman, surviving the cruel ravages of beasts and nature in a glorious attempt to unravel a mysterious and magnificent enigma called Africa. They returned to England to enjoy the accolades of a society that, if Florence's past became known, would condemn her as a prostitute.
Adorned with striking photographs, maps, and illustrations, Pat Shipman's To the Heart of the Nile is an extraordinary achievement -- an unforgettable portrait of an unforgettable woman; a story of discovery, bravery, determination, and love, meticulously reconstructed through journals, documents, and private papers, and told in the inimitable narrative style that has already won this author resounding international acclaim.
Customer Reviews:
Thrilling Tale, Flawed Book.......2007-07-26
This book notably advances understanding of the Bakers, wife/husband explorers extraordinaire. Most works focus on Samuel, treating Florence as an exotic appendage, but she was talented, fearless and an active agent in their adventures. The well-written text does justice to her inherently dramatic life, but problematic features lessen its credibility. First, there is much invented dialogue. While based on a sound grasp of primary sources and appreciation of Florence's character, such licence inevitably strays from the facts. Readers will wonder which parts are reliably documented and what is invention, but it makes for a stirring tale. More weighty is that Shipman is not an Africa specialist. This leads to numerous flaws, minor in themselves but cumulatively damaging. Many place and personal names have archaic spellings no longer used in their countries or by Africanists. Shipman routinely adopts the Bakers' negative views of Africans, repeating hoary insults about laziness, theft, lying and dissipation. (The section on Florence's early life and Islamic education in the Ottoman Empire is more nuanced and sympathetic.) She also seems to endorse their Victorian ethnocentrism: "From his plantation days, Sam knew how to command large numbers of natives," p.62. Authors should hew closely to the sources, but they must build on them instead of being constrained by their perspective. The Bakers achieved marvels of physical endurance in Africa, but disrupted many societies by using force to pursue their goals; the book elides this aspect of their 1870s military expedition to the Upper Nile. Cf. R. Collins's harsh but judicious chapter on Samuel Baker (R. Rotberg ed., "Africa & Its Explorers"), showing that the people Florence and Samuel met had their own valid concerns and goals.
Out of impulse, out of adventure, or a sense of attraction Sam kidnaps Florence .......2007-03-17
The story of Florence Baker and Sam Baker was well known to me. In most histories of the discovery of the Nile these two are treated somewhat as a sideshow, an entertainment, not to rank with Richard Burton or John Hanning Speke. But how that view changes with Pat Shipman's worthy biography of this incredible couple. We meet Florence being orphaned and raised to be in a harem, not discovering she was a slave until the day she was to be sold and then an event happens that would make the three musketeer's proud. Sam Baker on holiday, hunting attends the slave auction and finds him self bidding on this 15 year old girl (half his age). He loses and she is condemned to life in an Ottoman harem as a slave. But then out of impulse, out of adventure, or a sense of attraction he kidnaps Florence and they begin one of the most marvelous romances and live their lives full of adventures. They choose to find the true source of the Nile resulting in a truly amazing story. My only complaint with the narrative is that I found the two Nile expeditions became a bit of a tedious read. I think this is because they dwell on many issues and events and don't seem to focus on the two's relationship; or maybe it is because the first 100 to 150 pages are so exciting and spellbinding that one is bound to be let down by just a trek though impossible terrain. The ending is marvelous proving that true stores can have an amazing arch and warmth. After Sam Baker's death Florence lives on to take interest in Sam's young grandnephew that grows up, learns Arabic, and is assigned to the Sudan Political Service. During this work he hears stories of the famous Sam and Florence. For those interested in jihads we even follow the events of the great Mahdi army's crushing defeat of the British and Gordon's death and loss of Khartoum. I recommend to anyone interested in adventure, the history of the Sudan, great romances and the Nile source discovery. And I must mention you must read Alan Moorehead's great books THE WHITE NILE and THE BLUE NILE that more fully tell the story of the discovery of the source of the Nile.
The incredible determination of the early Explorer!.......2006-09-10
Based on journal entries, private papers, and newspaper articles of the day, Pat Shipman has provided us with a true story of love and bravery. When Sam and Florence Baker set out together to search for the source of the Nile, they encountered unbelievable conditions as they painfully made their way on camel back across the burning desert, and often on foot through the jungle to the heart of Africa. Knowing that they eventually became Lord and Lady Baker is a consolation, as you suffer with their trials, debilitating fevers and horrendous tribal wars. Here we have a story of enduring love amidst great hardship. A book worth reading from beginning to end as you watch Sam Baker rescue this beautiful Hungarian girl from a highly specialized slave auction for girls who had been prepared to grace any Sultan's harem! This remarkable and beautiful young woman went on to save the life of her husband on more than one occasion. The charming black and white sketches and illustrations, plus two maps, add considerably to the value of the book.
Not a novel, but a great story of love and adventure in Victorian times.......2006-05-22
This book is an hybrid, it's neither a novel nor a non-fiction. It's the attempt of a scientific mind to write a novel on a women explorer she is fascinated with. It sometimes happens that historical characters particullarly appeal to people who deal with something completely different. I think that is at the back of this interesting book. The author is not an historical novelist like Irving Stone, because the structure of the book is plain chronology and the dialogues between the characters sound accademic at best, if not false, but her fascination with Florence Baker gives at the end its fruits. Some stories are so good that however written remain an excellent read.
Women explorers are rare, and were more so in Victorian times. Florence Baker, an Hungarian girl, adopted in an harem to be later sold as a slave, rescued by the great explorer Samuel Baker lead an intense life accompaning her husband to the darkest part of Africa. The couple took part in the British exploration of the Nile together with Stanley, Grant, Burton and rule of the Sudan and the abolition of slavery with Gordon and others. During their years in England they were part of the best English society and got to know and influence the foreign politics of England. Their life was full of success and public recognition. And they loved each other, apparently from the first to the last day of their lives. Even if this is very romantic in this case it seams to be true and the author makes a point of letting us feel this love and mutual respect.
The book optimally contextualizes the african and egyptian situation in the period Florence and Sam stayed in Sudan, but better still immerges us in the English society once they got back. We get an excursus of the Baker family, which contributed with various great men to english foreign affairs, the prince of Wales, the Royal Geographic Society, the Mahdi and Charles Gordon another hero of those times. The excellent bibliography gives many further reading suggestions.
As a footnote, I would like to point out that Wikipedia reports Samuel Baker and Florence is mentioned only as his wife. Femminism still has a long way to go!
I would like to thank the author for having written about this woman, because some stories cannot be forgotten!
...journey through a life.......2006-04-21
(I wish I could give this adventure 3.5 stars.) When one takes into account the life and times, the journey itself is more amazing than the writing.
Average customer rating:
- Surveys the river's importance to local lives & world events
- great read
- Great maps and a riveting narrative
- Great maps and a riveting narrative
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The Nile
Robert O. Collins
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
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The Blue Nile
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The White Nile
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The Nile: Histories, Cultures, Myths
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MYSTERY OF THE NILE (DVD MOVIE)
ASIN: 0300097646 |
Book Description
The Nile is the longest river in the world. In its route from the Lake Plateau of East Africa to the Mediterranean, the Nile flows for more than four thousand miles through nine countries: Tanzania, Kenya, Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, the Sudan, and Egypt. The river begins in volcanoes and mountains with glacial snows and ends in arid deserts.
Throughout history, the banks of the Nile have been home to many peoples, from Bantu cultivators, Nilotic herdsmen, and Ethiopians in their highlands to the Sudanese, Nubians, and Egyptians on the plains below. No other river in the world has embraced such human diversity. But the huge and varied populations that have thrived on the waters of the Nile have also exerted extraordinary pressures on the river and its environment. From the early canals dug by the pharaohs to the building of the Aswan High Dam in 1971, civilizations have struggled to tame the Nile and control its resources. In The Nile, Robert Collins charts this dynamic interplay between man and nature in chronicling the past, present, and future of this great river.
Customer Reviews:
Surveys the river's importance to local lives & world events.......2003-03-09
This scholarly and thoroughly impressive history of the Nile River provides a fine blend of geography and history as it surveys the river's importance to local lives and world events. From its various ecological niches and environments to the special history of its evolution and importance to mankind, The Nile is filled from cover to cover with a wealth of lively and articulate description.
great read.......2003-01-16
By Robert I. Rotberg
The life-giving Nile of lower Egypt trickles first from two springs in Burundi and Rwanda and then meanders 4,238 miles as the White Nile through great equatorial lakes; loses itself in tangled and difficult swamps; tortuously emerges to run freely toward its confluence with the much more powerful, if shorter, Blue Nile from Ethiopia; and then flows over cataracts and dams through the great desert to the Mediterranean Sea.
Over five millenniums, the nutrient- and silt-laden Nile floodwaters enabled agriculture and civilization to flourish all along its lower reaches. When the annual summer flood failed, however, the northern Sudan and all of classical and modern Egypt suffered hideously.
Collins links the dark ages of dynastic Egypt and the successes of invading outsiders to those sometimes prolonged periods when the Nile withheld its renewing gift. In turn, those dry spells reflected shifts in the rainfall patterns of equatorial Africa and highland Ethiopia, not - as the Egyptians always feared - to the manipulative scheming of Ethiopian monarchs or African chieftains.
There were many efforts to measure the flows of the Nile, and then to harness it effectively. Taming the Nile, the quixotic goal of administrators from early times, led to the first small dams, and in the early 20th century to dams in the Sudan. President Gamal Abdel Nasser's Aswan High Dam of 1970, with its 300-mile lake and its ancillary dam at Roseires in the Sudan, were together intended to regulate the river forever, smoothing out the years of high and low water. But the mighty Nile refused to capitulate, and the impoundment of its waters has led to great silting and weakening of the dams, the impoverishment of Egyptian agriculture, unexpected disease, and unanticipated economic and social consternation.
Collins's seamless biography captures the soul of a river that is both a result of and a continuing influence upon Africa's geology, climate, history, peoples, economy, and politics. Collins roams over the 2 million-square-mile basin of the Nile - the smaller rivers, the large and tiny lakes, and the glacier-capped mountain ranges - and writes movingly of the glory and challenges faced by the immense cascade of water as it makes its way over myriad waterfalls and past pumping stations, villages, towns, and cities to its ultimate destination. He also captures the trials and triumphs of the Nile's sometimes human- assisted passage through the Sudd - a vast eddying swamp-like mass of lagoons and channels that long defied explorers and entrepreneurs as they attempted to follow the White Nile south into equatorial regions.
Counterintuitively, more of the merged waters of the Nile come from the Blue branch, not the much longer and more tortuous White system. The Blue starts higher than the White, at 9,000 feet, and then rushes into shallow Lake Tana. From shores ringed by Coptic Christian monasteries, the Blue carves a great arc through the lava dikes and sandstone plateaus of western Ethiopia, strengthened by three significant and many minor tributaries until it leaves the highlands and crosses into the Sudan as a source of regular refreshment.
As in any great biography, there are diversions off the main channel. Collins swoops readers into the Baro Salient, that riverine mapmaking mistake that thrusts Ethiopia into the southern Sudan, where commerce coursed clandestinely across borders. He takes us on a fascinating search for 15-foot canaries - not in John Williams' standard "Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa" - high up in the Mountains of the Moon (the Ruwenzori Range). And he supplies unexpected facts. For instance, as mighty as the Nile may be, its volume of fresh water delivered to the Mediterranean is only 2 percent of the total of the Amazon River and 15 percent of that of the Mississippi River. For much of its 160 million-year history, the Nile emptied into the Indian Ocean; only in comparatively recent geological times has it flowed north.
This is an easy book to read and to like. Yet there are occasional anachronisms, where sketches of people or places forsake the findings of modern linguistic and ethnological scholarship, and repetition of pet phrases or factoids. But the book's big flaw is the fault of the publisher: The quality and clarity of the maps and photographs are inadequate for a study as important as this panoramic biography of a pulsing river.
ý Robert I. Rotberg directs Harvard's Program on Intrastate Conflict and is president of the World Peace Foundation.
from the January 09, 2003 edition - ...
Great maps and a riveting narrative.......2002-11-19
There are a lot of great books on the Nile; Emil Ludwig's classic and Alan Moorehead's come to mind. This is another, updated version, that fills in a lot of the blanks left by the earlier books. It is well written and up-to-date. The emphasis is on politics and history but the author also appreciates the physical wonder that is the Nile. The author spends a lot of time talking about this place and that place, but the book is full of excellent maps to guide the geographically perplexed. It is a good read for the adventurous as well as those interested in the challenges facing modern Africa.
Great maps and a riveting narrative.......2002-11-19
There are a lot of great books on the Nile; Emil Ludwig's classic and Alan Whitehead's come to mind. This is another, updated version, that fills in a lot of the blanks left by the earlier books. It is well written and up-to-date. The emphasis is on politics and history but the author also appreciates the physical wonder that is the Nile. The author spends a lot of time talking about this place and that place, but the book is full of excellent maps to guide the geographically perplexed. It is a good read for the adventurous as well as those interested in the challenges facing modern Africa.
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