The River of Doubt

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait—the bestselling author of River of the Gods brings us the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth. “A rich,dramatic tale that ranges from the personal to the literally earth-shaking.” —The New York Times The River of Doubt—it is a blackuncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron. After his humiliating election defeat in 1912Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could findthe first descent of an unmappedrapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorerCândido Mariano da Silva RondonRoosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the processhe changed the map of the western hemisphere forever. Along the wayRoosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardshipslosing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapidsand enduring starvationIndian attackdiseasedrowningand a murder within their own ranks. Three men diedand Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived. From the soaring beauty of the Amazon rain forest to the darkest night of Theodore Roosevelt’s lifehere is Candice Millard’s dazzling debut. Look for Candice Millard’s latest bookRiver of the Gods.