Customer Reviews

Through the Dark Continent: Or, The Sources of the Nile, around the Great Lakes of Equatorial Africa, and down the Livingstone River to the Atlantic Ocean. Volume 1

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The natives of Africa who worked with Stanley called him Bula Matari - "The Rock Breaker", and with good reason. It is really very hard to appreciate Stanley's accomplishments from today's perspective. In 1874, Stanley left Zanzibar. By 1877, he had crossed the continent and reached the Atlantic Ocean. There is nothing modern man can do that would equal this accomplishment. Today's daring adventurers climb rocks or mountains or go bungee jumping. Stanley was traveling into the unknown. Not even space exploration today holds the quality of the unknown, as did Africa in Stanley's time. The hardship he faced during this time was unbelievable by today's standards. His circumnavigation of Lake Victoria alone contained a constant stream of near death scrapes that not only required staggering amounts of physical courage, but a mental toughness as well. A lot of the reviews I have read on this work focus on Stanley's political incorrectness. I urge a closer reading of the work. Stanley was actually extremely open minded and, more than anything, fair in his views and certainly very progressive. When discussing the character of the African natives, Stanley was of the opinion that "they are, in short, equal to any other race or colour on the face of the globe, in all the attributes of manhood." Stanley was an insightful enough observer to draw comparisons between African legends and Christian beliefs, giving each equal respect and recognizing their similarities. Stanley even at one point performs the ceremony of blood-brotherhood with the famous chief Mirambo, which involved the sharing of blood by mutual cuts on the leg. I would suggest that Stanley was not only a progressive during his own time, but for any time. He judged men simply by deeds, nothing more or less. If only Stanley recieved the same standard of judgement. In Stanley's time, so much was unknown, and the world seemed so large and rich. In our time, so much more is known, and yet our world has become so narrow, specialized and petty. There can never be another man like Stanley. We are all far more interested in watching a teenager eat a plate of worms on "Fear Factor."