Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone

Written by Martin Dugard

Narrated by Simon Jones

With the utterance of a single line—“Doctor Livingstone, I presume?”—a remote meeting in the heart of Africa was transformed into one of the most famous encounters in exploration history. But the true story behind Dr. David Livingstone and journalist Henry Morton Stanley is one that has escaped telling. Into Africa is an extraordinarily researched account of a thrilling adventure—defined by alarming foolishness, intense courage, and raw human achievement.

In the mid-1860s, exploration had reached a plateau. The seas and continents had been mapped, the globe circumnavigated. Yet one vexing puzzle remained unsolved: what was the source of the mighty Nile river? Aiming to settle the mystery once and for all, Great Britain called upon its legendary explorer, Dr. David Livingstone, who had spent years in Africa as a missionary. In March 1866, Livingstone steered a massive expedition into the heart of Africa. In his path lay nearly impenetrable, uncharted terrain, hostile cannibals, and deadly predators. Within weeks, the explorer had vanished without a trace. Years passed with no word.

While debate raged in England over whether Livingstone could be found—or rescued—from a place as daunting as Africa, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the brash American newspaper tycoon, hatched a plan to capitalize on the world’s fascination with the missing legend. He would send a young journalist, Henry Morton Stanley, into Africa to search for Livingstone. A drifter with great ambition, but little success to show for it, Stanley undertook his assignment with gusto, filing reports that would one day captivate readers and dominate the front page of the New York Herald.

Tracing the amazing journeys of Livingstone and Stanley in alternating chapters, author Martin Dugard captures with breathtaking immediacy the perils and challenges these men faced. Woven into the narrative, Dugard tells an equally compelling story of the remarkable transformation that occurred over the course of nine years, as Stanley rose in power and prominence and Livingstone found himself alone and in mortal danger. The first book to draw on modern research and to explore the combination of adventure, politics, and larger-than-life personalities involved, Into Africa is a riveting read..

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: May 6, 2003
• ISBN: 9780739302392

Martin Dugard

Martin Dugard is the New York Times bestselling author of Into Africa, The Training Ground, Last Voyage of Columbus, and The Explorers. He is also the coauthor, with political commentator Bill O’Reilly, of Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, and Killing Patton. He lives in Southern California with his wife and three sons.

Reviews for Into Africa

[yukon92 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very detailed and long!

[konastories · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Joy's review: A jolly good read! Amazing adventures, incredible hardships and fantastic journeys... I can't begin to fathom how they endured the physical hardships that these journeys put upon them. It's also hard to comprehend the drive of these explorers trying to be the first to definitively identify the source of the Nile. I'd recommend this book to just about anyone.

[amerynth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Martin Dugard's "Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone" tells the story behind what is arguably one of the most well-known quotes from an explorer: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume? (perhaps only outdone by Edmund Hilary's "Because it is there.")

The book gives a good overview of Dr. David Livingstone's efforts to find the source of the Nile and Henry Morton Stanley's efforts to find Livingstone. I've read Stanley's book on his exploration of Africa (which came after finding Livingstone) but this book really gave me a totally different view of his character. Dugard's book describes him as racist, ambitious and frankly patently unlikeable.

I enjoyed the book's story and the way Dugard wove the journeys of the two men together. The book suffers a bit from Dugard's sort of breathless, excited way of describing even mundane scenes, but it also makes it clear that Dugard clearly enjoyed all of the research that went into it. A good, solid book that made for an interesting read.

[susanbarnard_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Actually, my rating of this book speaks more to the subject matter than the author's writing ability. Being historically based, the novel is as dark as the truth. I always thought that Dr Livingston was a medical missionary and that Stanley went to find him to join his work. Turns out the truth is racist, cruel, mean, self-indulgent, and self-promoting. I did not enjoy the book for those very reasons. However, I do believe that Martin Dugard did an excellent job of research, and produced a well written account of the life and time of these men. It seems to be a true representation of their dark, cruel adventures/fate. As much as I disliked the dark truth on which the book is based, I was up late at night reading - enthralled by the story.

[siri51 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

When Livingstone died he had malaria, anemia, hookworm, dystenary and an enormous bloodclot. he was 60 and had been wandering Africa for 8 years (on this journey). On a previous journey his wife missed him, came to Africa to be with him but died of malaria. He hardly knew his children. A driven personality, suffering so much to find the Source of the Nile (unsuccessfully, we had to wait for sateliite technology to find it). Stanley was also a determined man, but a different motive - a journalist looking for the scoop.
The story set against the background of African colonialism, the slave trade and environmental extremes was fascinating.

[jaylivernois · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent African history. Must read.

[santhony_35 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Doctor Livingstone I presume?" is undoubtedly one of the most well known quotes in history. Very few people, however, are familiar with the history underlying the meeting of Dr. David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley.

This book details the lives of the two men and the historical background through which they were thrown together. Livingstone, one of the foremost explorers of his day is searching for the source of the Nile River. Through a combination of bad luck, poor planning, disease, weather, natives, etc., Livingstone is virtually stranded on the banks of Lake Tangyanika.

Henry Stanley, a newspaper correspondent undertakes a rescue mission at the direction of his publicity hungry publisher. This book details that mission and the international setting under which it took place. The perils of African exploration in the late 19th century cannot be overstated. This book does an excellent job impressing this upon the reader.

I found this book very similar in style and experience to Undaunted Courage (which detailed the Voyage of Discovery undertaken by Lewis and Clark) and River of Doubt (dealing with Theodore Roosevelt's exploration of the Amazon basin. If you enjoyed either of these books, you will like this one as well. If you read this book and enjoy it, I highly recommend the other two.

[bookcoll · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best telling of Stanely & Livingstone I've read so far.

[sylviaxxx · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In 1871 Henry Stanley Morgan set out to locate the missing Livingstone in the heart of darkest Africa. This is his story and one that grips the reader with a wealth of detail that you had no idea could be so enthralling. I am left with a profound respect for the arduous nature of travel in those early days, and the lengths that these individuals could endure, in order to further scientific knowledge.

[stbalbach_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the high-paced story behind the phrase "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" - it is the story of how Stanley and Livingstone came to meet in the African Congo; of the competitive history behind British and American explorations of Africa; the competitive newspapers in America and England that drove the stories into popular imagination; the competitive nature of nations and the start of the rush for Africa in the later 19th century. Stanley was an adventurer/reporter who pioneered the journalist+expolorer "reports from the field". Martin Dugard has a similar background. Overall this is an energetic, fascinating account of a whole host of characters from diverse backgrounds who came together on the fateful day in the middle of the Congo when Stanly walked up to the only white man in thousands of miles whom he had been searching for months and said "Dr Livingston, I presume?", entering into popular mythology forever.