Hearts of Darkness: The European Exploration of Africa [Paperback]

Frank McLynn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 11, 1994

Scarcely a hundred years ago, Africa was still the Dark Continent to Europeans--its geography and peoples largely unknown. Gradually, through the combination of individual endeavor and technological breakthrough, a handful of explorers began the seemingly impossible mission of discovery. In this highly praised book, the author tells the epic story of these larger-than-life men. Here is the reality behind the myth and legend of Livingstone, Stanley, Burton, Speke, Baker, and many others.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An account of African exploration during the Victorian era and such major explorers as Stanley and Livingstone. Illustrations.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

An eye-opening safari into the history and psychobiography of African exploration. McLynn (Burton, 1991, etc.) begins with a brightly colored sketch of the European canvassing of Africa, from Mungo Park's quest in the late 1700's for the source of the Niger to the successful penetration nearly a century later of the last blank spots on the map by German, French, and English adventurers. In between came a host of pith-helmeted derring-doers, most notably Burton, Livingstone, Speke, and Stanley. As McLynn sees it, all were driven by demons, from Stanley's sadomasochism to Burton's hatred of blacks to Livingstone's misanthropy. Upon this historical framework, the author builds his most unusual contribution: a thematic, transhistorical analysis of African exploration, covering in depth such topics as transport, the ivory trade, and the influence of imperialism. The impression grows of a nightmare continent of disease, warfare, and slavery into which Europeans brought their own cruelties and manias, at great peril and for little profit. McLynn provides fascinating, little-found information about everything from favored apparel (umbrellas, dark glasses) to porterage styles (because of the tsetse fly, domesticated animals couldn't survive in the African interior, so the human foot became the main means of exploration) to the eating habits of the black mamba. A close scrutiny of a few months in Stanley's 1874-75 transverse of Tanzania provides a case study of typical obstacles faced by the explorers. The blemish on this peach of a book comes at the end, when McLynn attempts--as did Fawn M. Brodie and others before him--to psychoanalyze the great explorers: Talk of mother fixation and other libidinous undercurrents sounds sadly reductionist in the face of these explorers' extraordinary feats. Except for those Freudian shadows, much bright light on the Dark Continent. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (October 11, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078670084X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786700844
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,845,704 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Kirkus review accurately describes this book, July 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hearts of Darkness: The European Exploration of Africa (Paperback)

The first 30 pages are dry: too much description of traveling, not enough of personalities and adventures - at first. But stick with it. As pages and chapters go by, it gets fascinating. I got a real feel of what it was like to be on a safari of discovery and a real sense of the social environment of the times. This is not a child's book of wonder, however. It is a true picture of the men and their times, including the horrors of traveling where there were no resources we take for granted today. The author describes the illnesses, many awful and incurable, the head porters, the slave trade, and how the explorers brought some economic destruction for the tribal cultures in their wake. If you have an interest in how Africa was opened up to European awareness and exploration, this is a good beginning, general book.