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

by Daniel Liebowitz (Author), Charles Pearson (Author) "ON DECEMBER 10, 1886, a letter appeared in The Times of London in which Robert Felkin, a prominent Scottish physician who had traveled extensively in..." (more)
Key Phrases: additional porters, starvation camp, land column, Emin Pasha, Tippu Tib, Lake Albert (more...)

4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this engrossing chronicle of a noble rescue mission turned sour, the monstrosities come as often from its central character as they do from the forests of Equatoria that he and his officers explored. Henry Morton Stanley (1841–1904) was "an unwanted bastard" who became arguably the Victorian era's greatest explorer. Liebowitz, a retired physician, and TV documentary writer Pearson reason convincingly that the shame of Stanley's Dickensian childhood gave rise to his hunger for glory and his nonexistent empathy: almost prerequisites for the 1886–1889 mission (to rescue the governor of Equatoria, now the southern part of Sudan) that was the pretext for Stanley's expedition. The authors move to great effect between the record of events in Stanley's journal and those of his officers. The book becomes slightly tedious in its overly detailed slog through the three-year trek, in which a key colleague went mad, a good half of the expedition died and the survivors arrived too late. After almost 300 lugubrious pages, the final chapters relating the aftermath of the expedition make for quicker, if no less dark, reading. This account may have too much logistical minutiae for mass appeal, but history buffs and students of colonial and African studies will find it purposefully harrowing. Agent, Inkwell Management. (July 25)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
In 1887, Henry Stanley set out to rescue Mehemet Emin Pasha, governor of the southern Sudan, from the Islamic jihad. Known as the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, it took three years; thousands of dollars; and the lives of several hundred, if not several thousand people, to rescue Emin Pasha from Equatoria. The expedition shot, burned, and looted its way across Africa. Stanley returned to London and a hero's welcome, but later praise for Stanley was undercut by criticism and controversy about the expedition and about his book, In Darkest Africa. The authors indicate that some likened Stanley's militaristic approach to that of a latter-day conquistador, treating the native people he encountered as so many impediments to be exploited or brushed aside with whatever force was necessary. In the end, London's social and political elite believed Stanley to be a "scruffy little Welsh bastard." Liebowitz and Pearson offer an in-depth and fascinating account of this eminent explorer who, we learn, had his dark side. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

Hardcover: 355 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (July 25, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0393059030
ISBN-13: 978-0393059038
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces

Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #310,074 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in these categories: (What's this?)
#4 in Books > Travel > Africa > Democratic Republic of Congo
#16 in Books > History > Africa > Democratic Republic of Congo

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
ON DECEMBER 10, 1886, a letter appeared in The Times of London in which Robert Felkin, a prominent Scottish physician who had traveled extensively in Africa, implored the people of Britain to rally to the cause of a man with a distinctly un-British name, Dr. Mehemet Emin. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
additional porters, starvation camp, land column, relief expedition, advance column, rear column, northern stations, additional carriers, entire expedition

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Emin Pasha, Tippu Tib, Lake Albert, Congo Free State, Fort Bodo, Lake Victoria, First Battalion, King Leopold, Major Barttelot, Shukri Aga, Hawash Effendi, Henry Reed, Henry Stanley, East Africa, Hamad Aga, Bula Matari, Kabba Rega, Mehemet Emin, Banana Point, John Rowlands, Selim Bey, Surgeon Parke, Muni Somai, Foreign Office, Vita Hassan

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 21 books:

Story of the Rear Column of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition by James S. Jameson in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
The White Nile by Alan Moorehead in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The remarkable expedition: The story of Stanley's rescue of Emin Pasha from Equatorial Africa by Olivia Manning in Back Matter
Victorian Explorer by William G. Stairs in Back Matter
The Blue Nile by Alan Moorehead in Back Matter

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Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Into Africa by Martin Dugard

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The White Nile by Alan Moorehead

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Lonely Planet East Africa by Mary Fitzpatrick

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African Lives by Denis Boyles

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	38% buy Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone 4.5 out of 5 stars (35) $10.85
	8% buy Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer 4.4 out of 5 stars (17) $12.24
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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews

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4.5 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Vivid Tale of Arrogance on Adventure, May 28, 2006

By	Odysseus "A Traveller" (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

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.

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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Historical Heart Of Darkness in Africa, July 29, 2005

By	C. Hutton "book maven" (East Coast, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

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.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, the Pain and Suffering, February 16, 2006

By	C. W. Emblom "Bill Emblom" (Ishpeming, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

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.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Stanley's Mad Arrogance

The author's do a decent job here, but I kept asking to what extent it was worth doing. Stanley proves to be a self serving, vain, even repellent character. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Brian Lewis

4.0 out of 5 stars Henry Morton Stanley's bumbling misadventures in Africa make interesting reading.
Subtitled "Stanley's Mad Journey through the Congo", this book appealed to the historian in me. It also appealed to my armchair-traveler sense of adventure and exploration... Read more

Published 21 months ago by Linda Linguvic

5.0 out of 5 stars You can't make this stuff up
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. Read more

Published on July 9, 2007 by Michael Kainrath

4.0 out of 5 stars The Darkness of Henry Morton Stanley (nee John Rowlands)
Liebowitz and Pearson have done a masterful job of skimming through the memoirs of all the members of the "Emin Pasha Relief Expedition" and bringing to us the most... Read more

Published on March 3, 2007 by Grey Wolffe

4.0 out of 5 stars "Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?"
Stanley's Mad Journey: The Last Expedition

Even by the standards of nineteenth- century Imperialism, Henry Morton Stanley was excessive. Read more

Published on February 7, 2007 by Philip W. Henry

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Better Than Fiction
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... Read more

Published on August 19, 2006 by Earl A. Myers, Jr.

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Read
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. Read more

Published on April 24, 2006 by Joel M. Campbell

5.0 out of 5 stars "Emin Pasha, I presume?"
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. Read more

Published on April 5, 2006 by Frank J. Konopka

5.0 out of 5 stars Mad Journey! Mayhem, Murder and More

The trip isn't bad enough - a 3000 mile walk in an equatorial climate with no food - the crew has to put up with Stanley! Read more

Published on January 20, 2006 by Loves the View

3.0 out of 5 stars Good --but not as good as I exspected
A decent telling but a bit tedious at times. Although there are better books on the subject I did appreciate the fact the author stuffed the book with good maps and photos. Read more

Published on November 17, 2005 by R. D. Morgan

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