Millard, Candice

"In the 19th century, the discovery and translation of the Rosetta Stone set off a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe--and extend their colonial empires. Two British men--Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke--were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton was already famous for being the first non-Muslim to travel to Mecca, disguised as an Arab chieftain. He spoke twenty-nine languages, was a decorated soldier, and literally wrote the book on sword-fighting techniques for the British Army. He was also mercurial, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officer determined to make his mark, passionate about hunting, Burton's opposite in temperament and beliefs. From the start the two men clashed, Speke chafing under Burton's command and Burton disapproving of Speke's ignorance of the people whose lands through which they traveled. They would endure tremendous hardships, illness, and constant setbacks. The two became venomous enemies, with the public siding with the more charismatic Burton, to Speke's great envy. Yet there was a third man on both expeditions, his name obscured by imperial annals, whose exploits were even more extraordinary. This was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who was enslaved and shipped from his home village in East Africa to India. When the man who purchased him died, he made his way into the local Sultan's army, and eventually traveled back to Africa, where he used his resourcefulness, linguistic prowess and raw courage to forge a living as a guide. Without his talents, it is likely that neither Englishman would have come close to the headwaters of the Nile, or perhaps even survived"--Adapted from publisher.

"[Provides a] narrative of Winston Churchill's extraordinary and little-known exploits during the Boer War"--Provided by publisher.

A narrative account of the twentieth president's political career offers insight into his background as a scholar and Civil War hero, his battles against the corrupt establishment, and Alexander Graham Bell's failed attempt to save him from an assassin's bullet.

Recounts Theodore Roosevelt's 1912 expedition to the Amazon, where he became the first person to descend the unmapped tributary of the Amazon.

Discusses how the attempted assassination of James A. Garfield just four months after he was elected president impacted the nation and affected the remainder of his presidency.

After his election defeat in 1912 with his just-established third party, the Bull Moose Party, Theodore Roosevelt looked for a punishing physical challenge to take his mind off the loss. What he found was The River of Doubt, a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. He made the trip with his son Kermit, and Brazil's most famous explorer, Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon. Facing an unbelievable series of hardships including loosing their canoes and supplies to rapids, enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks, Theodore Roosevelt changed the map of the Western Hemisphere forever. Three men died and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. Although he and his son survived his health was never the same.

Discusses how the attempted assassination of James A. Garfield just four months after he was elected president impacted the nation and affected the remainder of his presidency.