Race for Timbuktu: In Search of Africa's City of Gold Book

History is brought to life in this little gem of non-fiction about British and Scottish explorers of the early 19th century. It follows the history of attempts to locate Timbuktu and efforts to map the route of the Niger river. Goals included putting an end to slave trading and establishing new commerce. The book could also have been entitled "1001 Ways to Die a Painful Death." Turns out, the "best" routes to get to Timbuktu were traveling through the up-to-150-degree heat and vast rocky expanse of the Sahara Desert or crossing swamps and dense forests with hordes of disease-carrying mosquitos from the coast. Death could (and did) come from numerous foul means: dysentery, malaria, dehydration, marauding bandits, territorial tribes, fanatic Islamists, and a variety of potentially lethal fevers.

The first several chapters describe previous journeys into the African interior, setting the stage for the rivalry to come, including a couple in which:

"England's best and brightest had been wiped out in both of the expeditions (65 percent of the British contingent of 117 men died in Africa, while many of the rest were terminally ill when they landed in England)."

The middle chapters arrive at the focus of the book, primarily about two men striving to become the first to reach Timbuktu, and claim not only the prize of 10,000 francs offered by the French Geographical Society, but the accolades and prestige which would inevitably follow such an achievement:

"Until that August day in 1826 when the first white man in three centuries is known to have walked through the gates of Timbuktu, some dozen European explorers tried to find the city. For two of these, Captain Hugh Clapperton and Major Alexander Gordon Laing, winning this prize became an intensely personal competition, crossing that thin line that separates a passionate but realizable dream from an irrational and dangerous obsession."

These chapters are filled with striking descriptions and colorful, larger-than-life people. Not simply conveying a historical record, the author inserts vivid narrative that conjures an image of place:

"Night fell quickly in the Tripolitanian desert. The sky overhead became rusty; the setting sun dimmed. As the light failed, the sky passed from copper to bronze but remained metallic as the sun's embers were overtaken by the moon's milky shimmer."

This book is filled with adventure, courage, intrigue, politics, betrayal, and memorable people. The author is adept at conveying the personal characteristics of the individuals, both the admirable and the unpleasant. There's even a love story embedded in the pages, which adds poignancy and human impact to those left behind.

The final few chapters recount the aftermath. These chapters, while necessary, were not quite as riveting as those in the heart of the book. Recommended to readers interested in exploration, African/British history, or true-life adventures of a bygone era.