River of Doubt - Candice Millard

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⭐9/10

This book is about Teddy Roosevelt's trip to the Amazon Rainforest in the 1910s. It kinda checks every box for me, being an interesting survival/ exploration story with a super unique setting and a compelling main character. I didn't know really anything about Roosevelt, and this actually takes place after his Presidential terms. Roosevelt, like any US president, is a complicated figure, full of admirable and less admirable traits, but it is undeniable that he was one of the most interesting people to ever live, treating his life like a series of wild side-quests that spanned the globe and changed the world. 

This was pretty well his final side-quest where he wanted to map an uncharted river that runs through the middle of the Amazon Rainforest (The River of Doubt, no Ri

Roosevelt River). I read Gran's Lost City of Z last year, and that book mentions this expedition. I already knew a bit about the rainforest from that book, but I wonder if this book would be a 10 for me if I hadn't because the shock value upon hearing about the conditions the explorers have to put up with is truly absurd, offering maybe the most ways to die per square mile anywhere on earth. Roosevelt and co. experience them all here, and Roosevelt himself nearly dies several times. Like these aren't just close calls, these are miraculous interventions coming in the face of certain death. 

Of course this book also serves as something of a biography for Teddy, again skimming over the wild events that made up his life. Even beyond the events and accomplishments, I found him to be an interesting character, even in his own battles of mind, and the family tragedy happening all around him. The author goes into depth to humanize him and it's all super fascinating. 

Of course he's not the only one of the expedition, and you're introduced to some truly strong characters, most of all Rondon who co-commanded the expedition (and in reality was the leader) and yeah! Cool guy! I know he is a hero in Brazil, but I had never heard of him, and it's crazy these people who did such interesting things but you rarely hear of them in the West. He too is not perfect, but more similar to Fawcett in that you can't help but admire his perseverance and force of will, while he also had more of a progressive stance on things like uncontacted Amazonian tribes. 

Kinda the perfect book and I'm having a hard time coming up with any negatives. Again, not quite as interesting to me after already finishing Lost City of Z, and the book also takes a bit to get going, but I thought it was fantastic in essentially every way and would easily be one I'd recommend to fans of this genre. 

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