EXPLORERS OF THE NILE The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure

It’s difficult for a narrator to do justice to a book like this—a well-written multidimensional look at the efforts of Europeans to discover the source of the Nile River. The actions and attitudes of the explorers were prequels to the rash of colonizations of the “Dark Continent” (as it then was called), from which many effects continue to this day. Narrator Clive Chafer, whose mild British accent fits right in, performs smoothly and keeps the narrative going, but this is not a compelling presentation. It is more like a lecture by a pretty good academic (he’s an adjunct professor, as a matter of fact) and worth listening to. D.R.W. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2012]