Book Review: River of Doubt by Candice Millard

Junior year of high school, there were two teachers available to teach second half (1870s onward) US History. I had Mr. Powers (one of the best teachers I ever had). Mr. Powers' favorite US President was FDR, since he reformed the relationship between the government and the citizens, ended the Depression, and led us to victory in WWII (although Mr. Powers was a little wary of the court-packing scheme). We had another history teacher whose name escapes me (although he was one of the brothers at my Catholic high school), and his favorite President was Teddy Roosevelt, because of the amount of stories you could tell about him.

I spent most of my life in Mr. Powers' camp, but the thing is...they're both right.

Teddy Roosevelt is hard to judge as a President. If nothing else, he's one of the most important we've ever had, as he made the position much more important than it had been (previous to him, Congress held more sway than the President), and had numerous achievements such as dampening corporate greed, getting the Panama Canal built, and keeping us out of war with Germany a decade before we were ready for it.

But while Roosevelt's ends were great - and always with the "common man" in mind - his means left something to be desired. He was overall an enemy of democracy, as he was so resolute in his ideas that he opposed anything that stood in his way, whether they be Congress, courts, or voters. Towards the end of his second year in office he even suggested ripping up the Constitution, and instead of having three branches of government electing a dictator for four-year terms (you can guess which dictator he had in mind).

His presidency may be hard to judge, but Teddy Roosevelt as a person was absolutely remarkable. He was definitely one of the smartest Presidents we've ever had, not only in terms of government and politics but also science, art, literature, etc. Just as impressive as his knowledge was his physical fitness. As a sickly child with a weak heart, he was told that he needed physical exertion in order to get better, and took that to hear (literally), with a rigorous exercise regimen that allowed him to grow up to be, among other things, a logger in Maine and a ranch-hand in the Dakotas. He didn't slow down while he was President, and even held boxing sparring matches in the White House. He was also notorious for his "point to point" walks, where he would pick a point to walk to, and for any obstacle he reached he could go over it, under it, or through it, but never around it. It was not so unusual in those days to see the President of the United States climb naked out of the Potomac on a freezing day.

And just as developed as his physical and mental attributes was his spirit - he was constantly craving adventure. As mentioned above, he spent time as a logger and a ranch hand - as well as a soldier - despite the fact that he was from an extraordinarily wealthy family and could have sat at home the rest of his life. He spent more than a year in Africa after his presidency ended hunting wild game (one of the elephants on display at the Natural History Museum was shot by Roosevelt). And, after losing the 1912 election as a Bull Moose Progressive, when a friend suggested taking a trip to the Amazon River he jumped at the chance.

Not only did Roosevelt want to visit the Amazon, he wanted to travel a little-known and unmapped tributary, only known as the River of Doubt.

Candice Millard does a great job in this book providing you with everything you need to know to make sense of this successful yet somewhat doomed expedition, while always keeping the story moving. She spells out all the reasons the campaign would prove to be ill-equipped (bad leadership, bad choices, wrong boats, wrong food, etc.) as the team makes their way to the Amazon, and along the way provides snippets on US politics, Brazilian politics, geography and biology of rain forests, and native Amazonian tribe cultures to put moments in context.

All leading to the former President of the United States, in the middle of the Amazon with a badly infected leg, holding a lethal dose of morphine in his hand, and telling his son to go on without him.

It's an incredible story - from a life full of them - and Millard does a great job of bringing it to life. Highly recommended - nine out of ten hot dogs!