Awards
2007 National Book Critics Circle Award Winner for Biography
Synopses & Reviews
"A
magnificent new life . . .and#160;[and]and#160;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 Reviewand#160;
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, and#147;Dr. Livingstone, I presume?and#8221;
and#160;
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 Stanleyand#8217;s public career and intimate life have been misunderstood and undervalued. Jeal recovers the reality of Stanleyand#8217;s lifeand#151;a life of almost impossible extremesand#151;in this moving story of tragedy, adventure, disappointment, and success.
and#160;
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 Stanleyand#8217;s rise to success, his friendships and romantic relationships, and hisand#160; life-changing decision to assume an American identity. Stanleyand#8217;s epic butand#160; unfairly forgotten African journeys are thrillingly described, establishingand#160; 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.
and#160;
Review
"[An] impressive, revealing, and well written biography. . . . [Jeal] adds new layers to his subject's character."and#8212;David Gilmour, New York Review of Books
Review
"[T]his commanding, definitive biography . . .andnbsp;is an unalloyed triumph."and#8212;Jason Roberts, Washington Post Book World
Review
Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography
Review
Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography -- Robert Leiter - Jewish Exponent
Review
"Tim Jeal has written a great bookand#8212;shrewd, perceptive and engaging."and#8212;Jane Ridley,
Sunday TelegraphReview
"There have been many biographies of Stanley, but Jeal's 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. . ."and#8212;Paul Theroux, front page, New York Times Book Review
Review
"[T]his commanding, definitive biography . . . is an unalloyed triumph."—Jason Roberts, Washington Post Book World Paul Theroux - New York Times Book Review
Review
"A magnificent new life . . . . [Jeal] demonstrates in a way that makes [this] a superb adventure story as well as a feat of advocacy [that] Stanley was probably the greatest explorer ever to set foot in Africa. . . . 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
Review
"Tim Jeals book is not just an absorbing, sometimes horrifying biography but a feat of advocacy—an ardent, intricate defence of a man history has damned. . . . His subject could not be more topical. . . . For the question at the core of the book is do we have the right to force our idea of civilization on peoples whose culture is abhorrent to us?"—
John Carey, Sunday Times
Review
"This powerful and meticulously researched biography. . . . Assisted by a treasure trove of previously inaccessible letters and diaries, Tim Jeal presents the most cogent argument for years in favour of a radical reassessment of the Welsh-born American bastard. . . . This magnificent book is a stirring riposte to his many critics and a blow struck for a more distinguished posterity."—
Justin Marozzi , Evening Standard
Review
"[An] important book."—
Giles Foden (Author the
Last King of Scotland)
Irish Times
Review
"[A] gripping and scrupulously researched biography . . . unpicks Stanleys public lies to reveal the . . . injustice of the damage they have done his reputation. . . . As Jeal authoritatively demonstrates, Stanley remained stalwartly humanitarian, ever true to his men."—
Tom Stacey, The Spectator Review
"Everything I thought I knew about Henry Morton Stanley was wrong. It is put right in this major biography. . . . Stanleys life was 'impossible' in the sense that you cannot believe how much he crammed into it. . . . Stanleys three great expeditions to the interior are at the heart of the book. There were caravans numbering 200 bearers, armed guards, women and children, half of whom might never reach their destination. . . . His reputation still lies in the shadow of Livingstones. But if anything will rescue it, this newly researched, rich, perceptive life may do the trick."—
Peter Lewis, Daily Mail (Critics Choice)
Review
"Masterly. . . . Tim Jeal handles each of the great expeditions, including the formidable trans-African journey of 1874-7 in which Stanley navigated lethal Congo rapids in the tinpot steamer Lady Alice between close encounters with cannibals, with a panache and momentousness worthy of Kipling or Conrad."—J
onathan Keates, The First Post
Review
‘In this stunningly comprehensive biography Stanley himself is run to earth as a figure far more complex, contradictory and chameleon-like than was previously suspected. . . . A rollicking read as well as a moving, incisive study of one mans restless, evolving character and ambitions. . . . The relationship with Livingstone is brilliantly brought to life, while the later Congo debacle is mapped as never before. . . . [Stanleys] life seems tailor made for the full-blown Hollywood treatment."—
Tom Adair, The Scotsman
Review
"It is a wonderful story almost epic in scope. . . . What a biopic it would make!"—
Sara Wheeler, The Times
Review
"[An] exciting and extraordinary tale."—
Ann Wroe, Daily TelegraphReview
"Tim Jeal is a biographer as fearless in his genre as Stanley in the jungle. . . . His exhilerating book overturns much of the negative orthodoxy about the man he unhesitatingly calls Africas greatest explorer. . . . This is a page-turner. Jeal is a compelling storyteller, and his prose sweeps the reader along on a river of revelations."—
Julie Davidson, Sunday HeraldReview
"Tim Jeals absorbing biography . . . impresses for its scope, depth and ambition."—
The Herald Review
“Jeals book is a stunning and provocative work, an awesome piece of scholarship executed with page-turning brio. . . . A remarkable reassessment that will send shivers through historians and writers on Africa.”—Kevin Rushby,
The Guardian Review
"Of the many biographies of Henry Morton Stanley, Jeal's ,which profits from an immense new trove of material, is the most complete and readable."—New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)
Review
Read the entire New York Times Sunday Book Review of Stanley here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/review/Theroux-t.html..
Review
"[A] meticulous biography. . . . Besides rescuing Stanley from an unfair but accepted caricature, Jeal skillfully illuminates Stanley's work and its morality and separates him from King Leopold's exploitation and oppression of the Congo. This excellent reassessment of Stanley's life is essential for all libraries.—Library Journal
Review
Listen to Tim Jeal's interview on WILL AM, Focus 580 with David Inge. Download the program with Windows Media Player.
Review
Named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2007 by The New York Times Book Review
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."—David Gilmour, New York Review of Books
Review
"Jeal takes an already-fascinating story to new levels. . . . Jeal's biography is an unalloyed triumph, not only because it is painstakingly researched and eminently readable, but because it never loses sight of the abandoned child in the man, driving him forward, 'able to frighten, able to suffer, but also to command love and obedience.' Such a personality, Jeal notes, is 'an extinct species, and all the more remarkable for that.'"—Jason Roberts, Washington Post Book World
Review
"By uncovering the truth behind the myth, Jeal paints a sympathetic portrait of the ultimate self-made man."—Rebecca A. Clay, Wilson Quarterly
Review
Nominated for the 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Biography category
Review
"A meticulously detailed, thoroughly documented, definitive biography of Henry Stanley. . . . Despite immense fame and extensive writings by and about Stanley, this biography repudiates the conventional perceptions about the explorer. . . . Jeal's fascinating biography will not be last word on Stanley, but it should be the starting place for years to come. Highly recommended."—Choice
Review
“Sympathetic yet balanced, perceptive and full of perspective, this is biography at its best.” —Ross Leckie, The Times (London) Review
Silver medal winner of the 2008 Independent Publisher Book Award in the category of Biography.
Review
Click here to view videos from the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Finalist Readings and Awards Ceremony.
Review
Click here to listen to the author sort out legend from the truth on The Leonard Lopate Show: "The Great Adventures of Sir Henry Morton Stanley."
Review
Selected as a 2008 AAUP University Press Book for Public and Secondary School Libraries.
Review
Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title from 2008.
Review
Selected as one of the best books of 2008 by the Washington Post in the Biography category
Review
"Given the great amount of material Jeal used, his book is to be commended for the writing style, which draws the reader in and sustains interest throughout the duration of the narrative."—Steven Fabian, Journal of Historical Biography
About the Author
Tim Jeal is also the biographer of Henry Morton Stanley (National Book Critics' Circle Award in Biography and Sunday Times Biography of the Year 2007), and Robert Baden-Powell, which (like Livingstone) was chosen as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times and the Washington Post. In 2011 his Explorers of the Nile was a New York Times Editor's Choice and a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week.