[.ca] Classic History White Nile (ISBN 0141391162)

The White Nile:
Alan Moorehead`s book about the Nile, with its explorers of that heroic age - the late 19th century - is truly a magnificent achievement! It was simply so overwhelmingly, both thrilling and informative that I could hardy put it down. Starting with the pioneers Speke, and Burton, Samuel Baker, then describing the greatness of Dr Livingstone and the agile and ambitious Stanley, after which we encounter the purely Victorian General Gordon, his contradictory personality, and his end at the wall of Khartum. Mr Moorehead ushers us to the court of King Mutesa the Buganda monarch that shows as a real illustration of an imaginative fable king. After having read this valuable work, we will gain the most ultimate information concerning the rarely told yarn of the history of East Africa, Uganda, Egypt, and the Sudan. And that glamorous river, of course. This book is a must if you would like to understand the connections between the past, the horrors of the slave trade, the effects of colonization, the interests of autocratic emperors, the colliding interests of greedy colonists, and their subordinates, as well as the present problems of today that result from those incredibly engulfing events that took place in those decades.

Gotta love Alan Moorehead:
If you enjoy history you'd better read Alan Moorehead. He's a historian from a different era. Puts you right there. Introduces you to the some of history's great characters. Always a great story: Gallipoli, Captain Cook, WW2's desert war, and with this gem, the emergence of east africa in the 19th century. No legions of hired researchers, no thousand page tomes, no politically correct revisionism, just a great writer giving us a great story.

Destined to be a Classic:
This book and its companion book "The Blue Nile" will not disappoint anyone looking for an interesting story of equatorial exploration, in the days when the interior of Africa was still the "great unknown " to the world at large. This book has fallen into or is teetering on the brink of political incorrectness in some circles, but it is amazing that that is what is drawn from this book. It is one of the best accounts of the exploration for the source of the Nile river. The source was not known by the world at large until a series of explorations and conquests took place. Taking an overall view, armies still clashed with the native inhabitants, explorers still faced hardships and ordeals. A portion of World History took place in this area,.in what was probably the last equatorial "Man against Nature exploration struggles The book is extremely well written. A very entertaining style. I rate the Blue and White Nile together. The White Nile led me to the Blue Nile book and a plan for some follow-up reading on the explorer, Richard Francis Burton. The main point is the shocking realization that that source of one of the world most historic rivers was not common knowledge until fairly recent times.

Badly Dated:
This book relates the Western attempts of the 19th Century to find the fabled source of the Nile River. (Evidently the other main branch, the Blue Nile, is just some kind of wuss river and its particular source was easily found.) Written in 1960, this study was just recently released in a new edition, which I feel is a bit of a mistake, inasmuch as it really seems to have first been printed in 1860. In Moorehead's prose (not merely the quotes of the explorers), the Africans are invariably "savage", "primitive", and "ignorant". Their lack of civilization is frequently bemoaned, as is their embrace of superstition and paganism, which is evidently the result of their inability to comprehend advanced concepts. Also, it goes without saying that they are lazy and indolent and usually up to no good. On the other hand, he does admit that no one asked the various parties from England, America, France, and Germany to go tearing around the countryside and that great harm came as a result of these intrusions. However, it is not exactly the case that East Africa was a pristine wilderness, since apparently it had been overrun by Arab slavers for centuries. Anyway, we get to learn a bit about Burton (of "A Thousand And One Nights" fame) and Speke, Grant, Baker, Livingstone and Stanley, and Gordon. For the most part, the book pretty much breaks down into a first half about the explorations that took place up until Gordon became Governor-General of the Sudan, and then in the second half it relates the tragic events of the uprising of the Mahdi, the siege of Khartoum, and the later punitive expeditions to finally uproot the rebels and return the Sudan to the proper authorities (i.e. the English, operating through their Egyptian puppets). I gotta say the section about Gordon and his lieutenant Emin was pretty stirring and tragical and stuff. I should read up some more on this. And it was pretty cool to see some more 20th century types like Churchill, Kitchener, and Beatty go drifting through. That Churchill--he sure got around, eh? But the book really was spoiled for me by the overt racism, which was of a weird flavor, seeing as how the author also berated the explorers for their own bad attitudes towards Africans. Dude--don't criticize yer neighbor for having a splinter in his eye when you have a plank in yer own, all right?

A dated but exciting read:
Anyone who enjoys historical narrative will enjoy The White Nile. It certainly robbed me of my sleep! I was expecting much more on the exploration itself, and wasn't prepared for the long section on Khartoum and Gordon, but it turned out to be a fascinating story, one worth reading. The problem with this book has already been pointed out: its dated, essentially racist attitudes. Moorehead, true to his era (this book was researched/written in the late 50s) evinces very little sympathy for African cultures. Gordon, Speke, Burton and Livingstone may have been admirable for their courage, and their intentions may have been good, but Moorehead has a tendency to hero-worship these Great British Men a little too much for my taste. It is telling that the Arabs, though portrayed chiefly as ruthless slavers and religious fanatics, are still 'civilised companions' to the Europeans who seem unable to have meaningful contact with black Africans. But in this also the book is worth reading - perhaps it is this huge gap of understanding between colonisers and colonised that is the root of Africa's problems even today. To his credit, however, Moorehead recognises the debilitating effect of slavery, endemic violence foreign intervention on African cultures. Read this book as a great adventure complete with wild heathen, murderous fevers, messianic leaders and impenetrable swamps; as a historical narrative of empire building and its discontents; as a psychological study of explorers, soldiers and bureaucrats; as food for thought on the explosive contact between cultures that bred contempt, pity and fear.