The White Nile

Dieses Buch habe ich vor vielen Jahren auf einem Nildampfer gelesen als wir tagelang im Sudan im "Sudd" steckten - ein Sumpfgebiet 390 km mal 240 km groß. Damals hatte die Durchquerung des Sumpfes bis zu einem Jahr für Forscher gedauert, während wir im Bürgerkriegsgebiet in "nur" vier Tagen durch waren. Die Geschichte liesst sich wie ein Krimi und spiegelt die heutige Zeit - schon damals hatte man ständig mit den gleichen islamistischen Problemen zu kämpfen wie heute - Jihad, Ermordung, Verschleppung, Versklavung usw. Also für alle, die gut Englisch können und für die Geschichte von Mittel- und Nordafrika ab 1860 interessieren, ist dies kein langweiliges Geschichtsbuch, sondern eine fasinierende Reportage einer vergangenn Zeit.

This is an outstanding piece of historical writing, racy, ironic and compulsive. Read it!

This is exciting history and the book, as is normal with this author, is also exciting and engaging to read. Extremely well written (see his other Nile account The Blue Nile) is very deeply researched (notes, resource and bibliography are included) and Moorehead is always at his best in bringing alive his selected characters from history. And what a cast ... from Herodotus as probably the first explorer, and the broadest outline of a map of the sources of this most famous river by Ptolemy, we explore the river springing from "fountains among the Mountains of the Moon" with Burton, Speke, Baker, Livingstone (and therefore, of course Stanley) Gordon, the Generals Wolseley, Kitchener and members of the Wingate family of Arabists, explorers and war leaders - and remarkably still alive at the book's publishing - Sir Winston Churchill. Any account of this period in African history would also have to include the slaver, Tippu Tib, the Islamic "new prophet' and leader El Mahdi, his brave successor the Khalifa leading his almost medieval troops under his black flag to paradise and glory against the maxims and artillery guns of a modern army. The prominent and successful African chiefs and kings, Khartoum, Omdurman, Cairo and the Sudan, the Congo, and Egypt complete the listing and are as thoroughly detailed in this work as the great river itself. In support of his research Moorehead also visited many of the significant points around the Nile's source, describing their current - and often remarkably unchanged - views and their further role in history. In his epilogue he tracks the explorers, kings, chiefs and Generals of his fascinating story, truly until the completion and mapping of the source only at the close of the 1900's "... the greatest geographical secret after the discovery of America." A recommended read for all history buffs or even those who just like a good story - and a great entry-point for further reading on African history and exploration and to this author's marvelously well researched and written books.

I read this book while traveling overland from Cairo to Juba. It helped and informed me a lot. Great book. Good information and great story’s about the explorers who were busy running around Africa so long ago. A great read.

I was curious to learn more about British colonial history in the Arab and African worlds and found this book by accident. What a pleasure it has proven to read! The author marries incredible research scholarship with a fluent style which tells the story of several explorers while also evenhandedly assessing the impact of their exploits. I am impressed. Presumably the journalistic training of the author taught him how to write for comprehension AND interest, something that few pure historians seem to be able to accomplish. I am ready to re-read The White Nile with an atlas by my side, and then it's on to The Blue Nile. Pity the author is no longer with us to write more of these great historical masterpieces. My only wish is that the publisher had been more generous with maps for each chapter in order to facilitate understanding of the immense distances which, as the author points out at the close, these tireless explorers actually WALKED.