From Publishers Weekly
Several years ago, U.S. fighter pilots testing computer-guided navigation were surprised when the autopilot system flipped their planes as they passed over the Equator and into negative latitude. Of course, it was negative only according to the general belief that "the history of the world has almost always been written from a point of view situated around forty-five degrees latitude [i.e., the Northern Hemisphere]." Guadalupi (coauthor of The Dictionary of Imaginary Places) and Shugaar (translator of Niccolo's Smile) hope to unveil what has fascinated and often frightened explorers as they traveled along the equator, the longest line on Earth. The authors center their histories and themes on three places along Latitude Zero: South America and the Spanish search for mythic El Dorado; Africa and the geographical exploration of the Nile and Congo river systems; the South Pacific and seafaring adventure. Their project is more a revisitation of a worthy subject than a narrative of new discovery. The names, places and histories are familiar (Sir Walter Raleigh and his failed trip to find the city of gold; Stanley and Livingston tromping through the African hinterland; Magellan's incomplete circumnavigation of the globe; the eruption of Krakatoa). More discouraging is their desire to uncover tales of the equator while operating under historically Western European assumptions. (Their insistence on referring to Africa as the "Dark Continent" particularly lacks irony.) Although it doesn't demonstrate rigorous scholarship, this book is nevertheless well written and entertaining a good chronicle of adventure and attempted conquest. Illus.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Library Journal
Guadalupi (The Discovery of the Nile) and Shugaar, who translated Maruzio Viroli's Niccolo's Smile: A Biography of Machiavelli, argue that the equator is "the largest manmade object on Earth" and set out to honor this imaginary 24,000-mile line with stories of those who have traveled it, explored it, exploited it, and conquered those living on it. The book is divided into various geographical and historical sections e.g., "Antiquity," "South America," "Africa," and "Asia/Oceania" and concentrates on the last five centuries. The majority of the text focuses on big names in exploration like Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Richard Burton, Henry Morton Stanley, and David Livingston; the adventures of Joseph Conrad and Robert Louis Stevenson are also covered. One fascinating tale involves the Galapagos Islands, a destitute but obsessed Austrian baroness, promiscuity, and a rash of suspicious deaths. Filled with stories that are well written and captivating, this study is recommended for public libraries. Margaret Atwater-Singer, Univ. of Evansville, IN
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
