Synopses & Reviews
"A
magnificent new life . . . [and] a superb adventure story. . . . There have been many biographies of Stanley, but Jeal's is the most felicitous, the best informed, the most complete and readable and exhaustive, profiting from his access to an immense new trove of Stanley material." --
Paul Theroux, front page, New York Times Book Review Henry Morton Stanley, so the tale goes, was a cruel imperialist who connived with King Leopold II of Belgium in horrific crimes against the people of the Congo. He also conducted the most legendary celebrity interview in history, opening with, Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
But these perceptions are not quite true, Tim Jeal shows in this grand and colorful biography. With unprecedented access to previously closed Stanley family archives, Jeal reveals the amazing extent to which Stanleys public career and intimate life have been misunderstood and undervalued. Jeal recovers the reality of Stanleys lifea life of almost impossible extremesin this moving story of tragedy, adventure, disappointment, and success.
Few have started life as disadvantaged as Stanley. Rejected by both parents and consigned to a Welsh workhouse, he emigrated to America as a penniless eighteen-year-old. Jeal vividly re-creates Stanleys rise to success, his friendships and romantic relationships, and his life-changing decision to assume an American identity. Stanleys epic but unfairly forgotten African journeys are thrillingly described, establishing the explorer as the greatest to set foot on the continent. Few biographies can claim so thoroughly to reappraise a reputation; few portray a more extraordinary historical figure.
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'Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography -- Robert Leiter - Jewish Exponent'
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'\"Tim Jeal has written a great bookshrewd, perceptive and engaging.\"Jane Ridley,
Sunday Telegraph -- National Book Critics Circle Award - National Book Critics Circle'
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'\"There have been many biographies of Stanley, but Jeals is the most felicitous, the best informed, the most complete and readable and exhaustive. . . In its progress from workhouse to mud hut to baronial mansion, it is like the most vivid sort of Victorian novel. . .\"Paul Theroux, front page, New York Times Book Review -- Jane Ridley - Sunday Telegraph'
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'\"[T]his commanding, definitive biography . . . is an unalloyed triumph.\"Jason Roberts, Washington Post Book World -- Paul Theroux - New York Times Book Review'
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"[An] impressive, revealing, and well written biography. . . . [Jeal] adds new layers to his subjects character."David Gilmour, New York Review of Books -- Jason Roberts - Washington Post Book World
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"Tim Jeal's masterly book ... can safely supplant Alan Moorehead's 1960 classic, The White Nile... Jeal also knows how to tell a fabulous story, and he lets old-fashioned epic adventure sit at the heart of his fine book." and#8212;James McConnachie, Sunday Times
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"[A] wonderfully entertaining and authoritative account of the search for the Nile and its consequences...There is something intensely moving about the the way in which Jeal has sought to restore Speke's reputation."and#8212;John Preston, Sunday Telegraph
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"Tim Jeal's wonderful book is filled with anecdotes and brilliant cameos, which keep the narrative fresh and sparklingly alive. His treatment of these legendary figures is authoritative and compassionate."and#8212;Alexander Maitland, Literary Review
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"There are few greater stories than the race to the Nile's source... Tim Jeal gives a fine reprise, bringing together in one well-paced narrative the interlocking Nilotic adventures ... Its place [is] alongside the classics of Victorian explorer history."and#8212;Tim Butcher, Daily Telegraph
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"If there is one book about the search for the sources of the Nile to read and keep on the shelf, this is it."and#8212;Tim Severin, Irish Examiner
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"Epic in proportion...An absorbing adventure and a thought provoking morality tale."and#8212;Peter Burton, Daily Express
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"Splendid."—Bernard Porter, Guardian Peter Burton - Daily Express
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"Tim Jeal's gripping book pulls the whole astonishing story together. . . . It's as intricate and unexpected as the source of the river itself. . . All the main players were. . . examples of grit, resourcefulness and courage on a heroic scale. . . . How intimately Tim Jeal knows them all, and brings them back to life for us."and#8212;Tom Stacey,and#160; The Spectator
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"Masterly...One of the fascinations of Jeal's book and his account of this astonishing period of exploration is that it makes great efforts to strip away the accumulated myths and through this process we can begin to see these 'heroic' figures plain, to imagine them as they were to their contemporaries."and#8212;William Boyd,and#160;TLS
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"Superb narrative . . . Jealand#8217;s judicious account is a must-read for anyone hoping to understand the internal dynamics of modern state-building in central Africa."and#8212;Brian Odom, Booklist
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and#8220;Explorers of the Nile is a brilliant, scholarly and at times almost unreadably vivid account of the two decades in the middle of the 19th century when the search for the Nileand#8217;s source in central Africa was at its height.and#8221;and#8212;Ben Macintyre, New York Times Book Review
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"Elegantly written and skillfully crafted...The greatest strengths of this highly enjoyable and readable book are Jealand#8217;s passion for his subject and his mastery of personalities as complex as the geography they battled to understand."and#8212;Diane Preston, Washington Post
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"Jeal's lengthy, comprehensive, and revisionist book is exciting reading both about the adventures in the field and about the clash of personalities."and#8212;Rob Hardy, The Dispatch
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"[A] wonderfully entertaining and authoritative account of the search for the Nile and its consequences."and#8212;John Preston, Sunday Telegraph
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Runner-up for the 2011-2012 Los Angeles Book Festival in the General Non-fiction category
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“Brilliant.”—New York Times Book Review New York Times Book Review
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Read Tim Jeal's essay on the perils of exploration on the Yale Press Log
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and#8220;Brilliant.and#8221;and#8212;New York Times Book Review
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"Splendid."and#8212;Bernard Porter, Guardian
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Won Honorable Mention in the 2012 New York Book Festival History category, sponsored by the New York Book Festival
Synopsis
R.S.S. Baden-Powell, who founded the Boy Scouts movement in 1908, was a British military hero during the Boer War and an author, actor, artist, spy, sportsman, and female impersonator. In this absorbing and humane account of Baden-Powells extraordinary life, Tim Jeal reveals for the first time the complex figure behind the saintly public mask, showing him to be a man of both dazzling talents and crippling secret fears.
Reviews of the earlier edition:
Baden-Powells life story is as rich and engrossing as any of his memorable campfire yarns . . . a monumental biography.”Zara Steiner, New York Times Book Review
In an age of good biographies, here is one that deserves to be called great . . . a magnificent book.”Piers Brendon, Mail on Sunday
Jeals Baden-Powell is brave and self-seeking, devious and honorable, a domestic paragon whose repressed homosexuality fired his career, a soldier of genius who ultimately rejected militarism. . . . The story that Tim Jeal has to tell is epic, funny, and touching.”Philip Oakes, New Statesman
Superb.”Ian Buruma, New York Review of Books
Synopsis
From the best-selling author of Stanley, a riveting account of the explorers who risked everything in their search for the source of the Nile
Synopsis
Nothing obsessed explorers of the mid-nineteenth century more than the quest to discover the source of the White Nile. It was the planet's most elusive secret, the prize coveted above all others. Between 1856 and 1876, six larger-than-life men and one extraordinary woman accepted the challenge. Showing extreme courage and resilience, Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, James Augustus Grant, Samuel Baker, Florence von Sass, David Livingstone, and Henry Morton Stanley risked their lives and reputations in the fierce competition. Award-winning author Tim Jeal deploys fascinating new research to provide a vivid tableau of the unmapped "Dark Continent," its jungle deprivations, and the courageand#8212;as well as malicious tacticsand#8212;of the explorers.
On multiple forays launched into east and central Africa, the travelers passed through almost impenetrable terrain and suffered the ravages of flesh-eating ulcers, paralysis, malaria, deep spear wounds, and even death. They discovered Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria and became the first white people to encounter the kingdoms of Buganda and Bunyoro. Jeal weaves the story with authentic new detail and examines the tragic unintended legacy of the Nile search that still casts a long shadow over the people of Uganda and Sudan.
About the Author
Praise for Tim Jealand#8217;s
Stanley, winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography
"A magnificent new life. . . . There have been many biographies of Stanley, but Jeal's is the most felicitous, the best informed, the most complete and readable and exhaustive, profiting from his access to an immense new trove of Stanley material."and#8212;Paul Theroux, front page, New York Times Book Review
"[An] impressive, revealing, and well written biography. . . . Tim Jeal has had both the good fortune to see [Stanley's] papers and the skill to construct a new interpretation around them. He recognizes Stanley's feats and views them in the context of his age rather than ours. Moreover, he adds new layers to his subject's character."and#8212;David Gilmour, New York Review of Books
"[T]his commanding, definitive biography . . .and#160;is an unalloyed triumph."and#8212;Jason Roberts, Washington Post Book World
and#8220;Sympathetic yet balanced, perceptive and full of perspective, this is biography at its best.and#8221;and#8212;Ross Leckie, The Times London
Named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2007 by theand#160;New York Times Book Review
Selected as one of the best books of 2008 by the Washington Post
Nominated for the 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography