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At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating
biographical portrait, The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore
Roosevelt's harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on
earth.
The River of Doubt-it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon
that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world.
Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide
through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling
cauldron.
After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights
on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent
of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his
son Kermit and Brazil's most famous explorer, C?ndido Mariano da Silva
Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time
refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western
hemisphere forever.
Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of
hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater
rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a
murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought
to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these
extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that
happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived.
From the soaring beauty of the Amazon rain forest to the darkest night
of Theodore Roosevelt's life, here is Candice Millard's dazzling
debut.
Book review
This is James'
eighteenth book, and is one of Adam Dalgliesh series.
On the eve of a special weekend with his new love, Emma Lavenham,
Dalgliesh is summoned to handle an especially delicate case at short
notice. He and his team, D.I. Kate Miskin and Sargeant Benton-Smith, are
to fly by helicopter to remote Combe Island to investigate the suspicious
death of a prominent author, and report back immediately. The island is
needed for a secret conference and it must be shown to be secure.
The dead man, aging novelist Nathan Oliver, had been found hanging from
the rails of the lighthouse. The few residents and guests on the island
all had reason to dislike him, but no real obvious motives for murder (the
bruising on his neck does prove it to be murder).
The manager, the accountant/priest, the housekeeper, the cook, the boat
captain, the handyman, the maid, the last descendant of the family who
owned the island and her valet, the teenage maid, the two guests, and the
novelist's middle-aged daughter and his personal copy editor...who could
have hated him so much?
Another tragic death happens before the mystery can be solved; and a
SARS outbreak takes out Dalgliesh, quarantines the island, and leaves
Miskin and Benton-Smith on their own and in charge.
This book is another success for James--a wonderful location and her
usually superbly drawn and realistically motivated characters make it a
must-read this winter | 
