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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect reading for downtime on your safari,
By
This review is from: African game trails: An account of the African wanderings of an American hunter-naturalist (The works of Theodore Roosevelt) (Hardcover)
I had just finished reading Douglas Brinkley's new The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America and decided to take Roosevelt's African Game Trails: An Account of the African Wanderings of an American Hunter-Natrualist on my own safari to East Africa this summer. The book is a collection of articles he wrote during his 1909-10 safari for Scribners.One of the questions I had before I read the book is whether it would actually provide interesting insights into Roosevelt and Africa, or whether it would just relate how Roosevelt shot up wildlife. I found the book to be a mix of both. Roosevelt is a keen observer of wildlife and provides many insights into animals that biologists consider accurate today (and that I observed on my trip). His discussion of which of the Big 5 (Lions, Leopards, Elephants, Rhinos, and Cape Buffalo) is the most dangerous is interesting and he reflects upon his own experiences to conclude that it depends on the situation. There are also a few memorable stories, such as the time when his fellow hunters had to throw several spears into a Lion to stop its charge. It is also simply fun to see a former U.S. president in all sorts of crazy situations (the book has great black & white photos from the trip). However, the most interesting aspect of the book is its insight into Roosevelt himself. He frequently calls indigenous Africans savages and praises European settlers. From these remarks, it is clear that he saw Europeans in Africa in much the same manner as he saw the American West - a new frontier to be settled on behalf of civilization. He isn't racist - at least according to the standards of his time (in the U.S., he was actually quite progressive on race) - but rather reflects a Social Darwinist view of humanity. This is a long book (over 500 pages in my version) and it seems long after a while since it generally involves the accumulated killing of animals. However, you have to remember that it was originally written as a series of articles for Scribners and was not meant to be read in one sitting. I think it works well if you read it over a few days or weeks. I read mine during the long drives from one park to the next during my safari in East Africa. That way, you won't get fatigued by the hunting stories. One final note: this book is crying out for an annotated edition. I think it would be great for some conservation biologist to expound upon Roosevelt's observations of African wildlife. While Roosevelt gets many things right, we have also benefitted from a century of field research in East Africa. For example, Roosevelt at first is adamant that there is only one species of Rhinoceros, with the Black Rhino being the common form and White Rhinos a sub-species aberration (although by the end of the book he sounds less sure). Of course, today we consider these two distinct species and in fact the Black Rhino is far less common. I would also be interested in learning whether his observations of the African tribes were accurate. Alas, this is the work of a future edition. While you're waiting, you can take this edition of African Game Trails with you on your next safari.
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