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dangermousieI am in love.
With something other than a dorama, this time.
What is the subject of yet another fleeting obsession?
The River of Doubt by Candice Millard.
What is it about?
In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt, a former two-term U.S. President (1901-1908), lost his maverick bid for a third term as a third party candidate. In the aftermath of defeat, politicians usually write memoirs, go on speaking tours, join a consulting firm or fool around with their mistresses. TR? Decided to explore an unknown tributary of the Amazon, completely unmapped as of yet, known only as ‘Rio de Duvida’ (River of Doubt in Portuguese).
So he embarked on this trip accompanied by a famous Brazilian explorer, Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon, a Museum of Natural History naturalist George Cherrie, his son Kermit, and a Brazilian military physician, as well as a dozen+ camaradas, local workers.
The book is a non-fiction account of this expedition, which was successful (the river was put on the map and is currently known as Rio Roosevelt. It is a thousand miles long), but also incredibly brutal, dangerous, and strenuous. There was illness, murder, drowning and starvation. TR almost didn’t survive it and, becoming horribly ill with malaria and infected wounds, decided to kill himself so the expedition wouldn’t be burdened with transporting him. He was only prevented from suicide because Kermit insisted that he was bringing him out of the jungle dead or alive and dead he would be a bigger burden.
Yeah.
I confess to having a huge thing for TR (my favorite president) simply because he was a rare larger-than-life figure who reads like a figure out of a turn of the century boys’ novel: Boxer, Cowboy, Police Commissioner, Trust Buster, Conservationist, War Hero, Big Game Hunter, Adventurer. Nobel Prize Winner. Oh yeah, and President. Whatever one’s view of his politics, he was someone who really stood by his convictions. Can you imagine W or Clinton doing something like volunteering in a war? Or demanding to be left behind so as to save the lives of others?
The author mentions in passing that TR was shot at by a would-be assassin while delivering a campaign speech in 1912. He was only saved by the glasses case in his shirt pocket, but he insisted on continuing to deliver his speech while wearing the blood-stained shirt and with the bullet still lodged in his chest. Crazy political theater? Yes. Incredibly, amazingly larger than life? Hell yeah. Can you imagine any of our current wimpy politicians doing that?
I am now interested in reading up on Candido Rondon who sounds amazing and have developed a minor historical crush on Kermit, whose own life reads like an incredible adventure novel, only with a very tragic end. He was so intrepid as to scare even TR, started out making his living in the wilds of South America building railroads, went on two adventure expeditions with his father: the much less challenging one in Africa and the horrifying one down the Rio de Duvida where TR survived only because of him, served in both World Wars, spoke half a dozen languages fluently and graduated from Harvard in two-and-a-half years. But he also was prone to severe depression for most of his life, became a complete alcoholic, and ended up committing suicide. Here is a wikipedia article on him.
River of Doubt reads like a Jules Verne adventure novel. Only it was real. And so goooooood.
P.S. If I ever get famous, I am burning all my letters in one big pile so people won’t be sorting through them decades after I am dead. Not only does RoD has the actual letter in which Kermit proposed to his wife, the book next to RoD in the store was a biography or Andrew Jackson and as I was flipping through it, I discovered an uber-sweet letter he wrote to his wife. Seems like a trend. Though of course, are you kidding? I totally loved reading them and all the other personal stuff. I guess I have the makings of a voyeur.
With something other than a dorama, this time.
What is the subject of yet another fleeting obsession?
The River of Doubt by Candice Millard.
What is it about?
In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt, a former two-term U.S. President (1901-1908), lost his maverick bid for a third term as a third party candidate. In the aftermath of defeat, politicians usually write memoirs, go on speaking tours, join a consulting firm or fool around with their mistresses. TR? Decided to explore an unknown tributary of the Amazon, completely unmapped as of yet, known only as ‘Rio de Duvida’ (River of Doubt in Portuguese).
So he embarked on this trip accompanied by a famous Brazilian explorer, Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon, a Museum of Natural History naturalist George Cherrie, his son Kermit, and a Brazilian military physician, as well as a dozen+ camaradas, local workers.
The book is a non-fiction account of this expedition, which was successful (the river was put on the map and is currently known as Rio Roosevelt. It is a thousand miles long), but also incredibly brutal, dangerous, and strenuous. There was illness, murder, drowning and starvation. TR almost didn’t survive it and, becoming horribly ill with malaria and infected wounds, decided to kill himself so the expedition wouldn’t be burdened with transporting him. He was only prevented from suicide because Kermit insisted that he was bringing him out of the jungle dead or alive and dead he would be a bigger burden.
Yeah.
I confess to having a huge thing for TR (my favorite president) simply because he was a rare larger-than-life figure who reads like a figure out of a turn of the century boys’ novel: Boxer, Cowboy, Police Commissioner, Trust Buster, Conservationist, War Hero, Big Game Hunter, Adventurer. Nobel Prize Winner. Oh yeah, and President. Whatever one’s view of his politics, he was someone who really stood by his convictions. Can you imagine W or Clinton doing something like volunteering in a war? Or demanding to be left behind so as to save the lives of others?
The author mentions in passing that TR was shot at by a would-be assassin while delivering a campaign speech in 1912. He was only saved by the glasses case in his shirt pocket, but he insisted on continuing to deliver his speech while wearing the blood-stained shirt and with the bullet still lodged in his chest. Crazy political theater? Yes. Incredibly, amazingly larger than life? Hell yeah. Can you imagine any of our current wimpy politicians doing that?
I am now interested in reading up on Candido Rondon who sounds amazing and have developed a minor historical crush on Kermit, whose own life reads like an incredible adventure novel, only with a very tragic end. He was so intrepid as to scare even TR, started out making his living in the wilds of South America building railroads, went on two adventure expeditions with his father: the much less challenging one in Africa and the horrifying one down the Rio de Duvida where TR survived only because of him, served in both World Wars, spoke half a dozen languages fluently and graduated from Harvard in two-and-a-half years. But he also was prone to severe depression for most of his life, became a complete alcoholic, and ended up committing suicide. Here is a wikipedia article on him.
River of Doubt reads like a Jules Verne adventure novel. Only it was real. And so goooooood.
P.S. If I ever get famous, I am burning all my letters in one big pile so people won’t be sorting through them decades after I am dead. Not only does RoD has the actual letter in which Kermit proposed to his wife, the book next to RoD in the store was a biography or Andrew Jackson and as I was flipping through it, I discovered an uber-sweet letter he wrote to his wife. Seems like a trend. Though of course, are you kidding? I totally loved reading them and all the other personal stuff. I guess I have the makings of a voyeur.
