Customer Reviews

The Last Expedition: Stanley's Mad Journey Through the Congo

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This book tells the story of a relief expedition led by Henry Stanley, of Stanley-and-Livingstone fame, to rescue an African ruler/administrator, the Amin Pasha, from military conquest and possibly worse.

The background is the defeat and the killing of Chinese Gordon in Khartoum. The same forces that dispensed with Gordon threatened the regime of the Amin Pasha, farther south. Despite his title, the Admin Pasha was a European, German by birth, who had reinvented himself and acquired a post of administrative responsibility in the Ottoman Empire. As revolutionary forces swept through the region, the Pasha's control and safety were threatened. An England, wracked with guilt over the death of Chinese Gordon, was filled with calls to save the Pasha from a similar fate, and the job fell to Henry Stanley.

This paragraph understates the complexity of the real situation. A number of sponsors had a hand in backing Stanley's expedition, each with their own separate political and business agendas. But the bottom line is that off Stanley went, and this is the story of his expedition.

What this book is really about is the adventure, the arrogance, the occasional accomplishments, the heavy dose of disasters, and finally the folly of this so-called "rescue" expedition. By the time Stanley made his way across the continent to reach the Pasha, his forces had been shredded and were probably in worse shape than the Pasha's own.

The book succeeds very well in conveying the atmosphere of danger and adventure that filled such 19th century explorations of Africa by Europeans. There is here a true flavor of Disney's Jungle Cruise attraction. It's a world of thick jungles, winding rivers, rough rapids, impassable waterfalls, exotic wildlife, and hostile natives. Much of this is the image of Africa left behind through the pens of explorer/promoters such as Stanley.

Another notable aspect of the book is its unsparing treatment of Lord Stanley himself. The authors are absolutely unstinting in portraying him as mercurial, arrogant, absolutely disdainful of the safety and perspective of others, reckless with his subordinates' lives, and often out of touch with reality -- even as he is an undeniably brillant explorer. One reads the book often in sadness over the young, eager soldiers' lives that were so callously abused by Stanley.

And yet Stanley himself still comes across as a complex character. The reader can judge how much to blame his eventual conduct on his early life, but that early life was straight ouf of a Dickens novel. Born out of wedlock to a domestic servant, never knowing the true identitity of his father, left behind by his mother with her family, kicked out of that family upon the marriage of his uncle, sent out to a foster family, and then abandoned by that family at a workhouse. Worst of all was the means by which this last was done: he was told he was being brought home to his natural family, the hard truth not being revealed to him other than by abandonment at the workhouse as he awaited his deliverance. For Stanley to have made something of himself after such a childhood is remarkable, and his selfish insecurity is certainly explicable, if not excusable.

The book is a good read, gripping and informative. To the extent that it has limits to its appeal, it is due to factors beyond the authors' control. For example, I would have loved to have known more about the individual Africans in the employ of the Stanley expedition, where the book provides intimate portraits only of the Europeans. But unfortunately it is a hazard of covering this historical period that the Africans' individual traits went largely unrecorded.

I read this book soon after reading The River of Doubt, with which it provides an interesting parallel. Both concern dangerous jungle river expeditions, although here the lead character is as repellent as is Roosevelt's character compelling. I give a slight nod to The River of Doubt, but they're both excellent books, and I believe they both fully deserve five stars.

This account of Henry Stanley's final exploration through central Africa on a dubious rescue mission reads like a novel. Like many explorers of that century, Mr. Stanley was full of courage and perseverance but was short on empathy and common sense. The mission was all that mattered, regardless of the human cost and that was expensive for the local natives and to his rescue party.

There are excellent maps found prior to the narrative which helps orient the reader as to the progress of the expedition. The authors tie up all the loose ends in an epilogue and hint strongly that the rescue mission was not worth the price paid in the human lives lost. "The Last Expedition" is a fast-paced, readable, and definative account of this epic three year journey through the unexplored Congo.

I realize all explorers subject themselves, and those who accompany them, to the rigors of the trip, but this is an expedition I was glad to be reading about than actually being there. Henry Morton Stanley wanted to "rescue" Emin Pasha who had been cut off from civilization for over three years. Traveling through the Ituri forest in the heart of the Congo would be enough to make anyone wish they had stayed home. Imagine woodticks lodged in the nostrils of your nose and having to be torn loose with tweezers, or worms entering your body through your feet or by drinking contaminated water. The ever-present enemy lurking in the forest plotting your demise, and starvation always a reminder. Woe unto you who disobeyed in any way or your already weakened body would be the beneficiary of a number of lashes with a whip. True, the trip took much longer (over three years) than expected (ten months), but after all this death and suffering, Emin Pasha decided to remain in Africa. Stanley wrote a self-serving book about this trip entitled In Darkest Africa, in which he placed blame on others, but not himself. He was denied his final wish of being buried in London's Westminster Abbey next to his hero, Livingstone. It turned out the request was denied because of the violence that accompanied his explorations as contrasted with Livingstone. Stanley and his entourage did explore parts of Africa unseen by civilized humans, and he must be given credit for that. If reading about explorers undergoing human suffering appeals to you this is a book you will enjoy. Just be glad you're reading about it, and not there yourself.

This book is a tale of hubris run wild, and shows the later life of Henry M. Staley, when he felt that he needed a cause to lead another expedition into Africa. Looking for Emin Pasha (who really wasn't lost) appeared to be the answer, but to make the journey even more eventful, he chose to take the long way to his destination. Rather than head West from Zanzibar, he decided to head East from the mouth of the Congo River, thereby adding many more miles, and much more time, to the trip. Of course, it gave Stanley the opportunity to go through areas of Africa that had not been traversed by any white man before him, and there were places where even the natives had not walked. The travails of the trip brought out the worst in Stanley's character, and there were, in my opinion, many unnecessary deaths, both among the expedition members, and among the natives. This is a fascinating book about the last great exploring expedition in Africa, and is well worth reading.

I have nothing more to add to the splendid reviews given this outstandingly informative work; however, I would recommend a fictionalized account of the same expedition written by Peter Forbath entitled " The Last Hero". It is no longer in print but can be purchased online from used book sellers.

I cannot emphasis strongly enough the impact Forbath's book had on my curiosity about 19th century exploration, particularly that of Stanley's 3 African enterprises. Whether you consider him a hero or villain, one cannot readily dismiss the tremendous contribution Henry Morton Stanley made to our understanding of and to the mapping of the " Dark Continent ". We will never see the likes of him again.

Both " The Last Expedition " and " The Last Hero " raise the standard of adventure, excitement, and intrigue to an altogether different level.

I found this book very interesting. I have never read much about African history. This book covers only a very particular slice of African history but an interesting one. The one negative I have about the book is the moralizing of the authors. They make it a point to explicitly tell us that Stanley was not a 'good' person. It was more than obvious to an even casual reader that his treatment of others and disregard for the non-Europeans on the expedition showed some moral flaws. Overall I was entertained by the book. Recommended.

This is the most engrossing book I've read this year. Like Conrad's _Heart of Darkness_, it combines vivid adventure narrative with disturbing psychological drama. Stanley was a complex figure--intelligent, stubborn, charismatic, sometimes generous and sometimes brutal. The authors disentangle all the complex threads of the story as Stanley's expedition breaks up, reassembles, and ultimately completes its epic trek across Africa. The tension and suspense are unrelenting. _The Last Expedition_ is a brilliant, novelistic historical saga that should be made into a movie.

This is about as gripping an African explorer's yarn as you are likely to find. It tells the story of a misguided 1887 mission by the famed Henry M. Stanley (who had "found" David Livingstone a decade earlier) to rescue one Emin Pasha, a curious European figure only vaguely associated with Stanley's Victorian Britain. In clear, succinct fashion we are introduced to the twisted situation that led to the grandiose mission, the mission's hidden motives, and its organization. Then we are off, going up the Congo river, feebly traversing the then-unknown (and hellish) forests of Central Africa, and finally on to the shores of Lake Albert where Emin Pasha is thought to be waiting. From the start, the expedition was a disaster and Stanley a violent bully, but somehow it all carries on to its ambivalent victory and aftermath. Good maps help the reader navigate the trip, and overall it is a breezy, engrossing read, despite the sometimes dark tale it tells. There are many footnoted asides, which one might think would be distracting, but aren't especially. A fine summary of a lesser known African adventure.

(P.s. One niggling quibble to the author with regard to the "rear column" episode: Ward is sent back down the river to cable the financiers in London and ask what they should do; we are told he gets a response from London, but are never told what that response actually said.)

Stanley's Mad Journey: The Last Expedition

Even by the standards of nineteenth- century Imperialism, Henry Morton Stanley was excessive. His career, detailed in "The Last Expedition: Stanley's Mad Journey through the Congo," encompasses the worst of colonialism: racism, elitism, and opportunism, among others.

It is ironic that Stanley's life would be forever linked with that of Livingstone, who he found and addressed with the immortal words: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
(Like: What other White Man would be in the middle of Darkest Africa?)
Stanley encouraged the popular perception of the Great White Hunter through his colorful, and self-serving, journalism for the tabloids of the day. He had no qualms in serving as Front Man for King Leopold of Belgium, who wanted to get on the African bandwagon with his own colony.

A European adventurer with the unlikely name of Mehemet Emin, who had adopted Arabic attire and manners, much like T.E. Lawrence, needed reinforcements, and it was agreed upon that Stanley would lead a rescue mission. Stanley developed a plan which, while it looked good on paper, was incredibly inefficient and downright foolhardy. His officers were the wrong men for the job: his equipment was inadequate; and his timing was wrong.

But the biggest problem was Stanley himself: arrogant, grandiose, disdainful of the Natives, and willful -he didn't have the right character traits for a leader. Illness, accident and murder claimed the lives of many of his men, yet he remained aloof and regal. It was a wonder than anyone survived the operation.
Like another reviewer, I read this book shortly after reading "The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey." It provided an interesting contrast in styles of leadership and character: Roosevelt saw his expedition as a test of his own mettle; Stanley (like some other American presidents, although not TR), was thinking how his Legacy would hold up. Not well.

The Last Expedition is well-researched, entertaining, and well written. (****)

These explorer stories are amazing in the ordeals they endured. Given how soft humankind is nowadays, I doubt any of us transported back to these times would have survived. How they did it is beyond me.