River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

This non-fiction book by Candice Millard rivals the work of one of my favorite non-fiction authors, Erik Larson. She uses the chronology of Roosevelt's expedition in the winter/spring of 1913-1914 as the framework for masterfully weaving together information about the history of the Amazon basin, its peoples, its flora/ fauna/ ecology, as well as background information on the major players. For most of the trip, there is fairly detailed information about the progress made--or not--to cross the upland plateau of Brasil that would bring the group to the head of a previously unexplored river, the River of Doubt, and then to descend it in order to chart its course. The river had not previously been explored by "outsiders" in any systematic way, and Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon, the man in charge of bringing telegraph service to the interior of the country, was determined to make the definitive maps. Roosevelt wanted an adventure, to escape his recent election failure in the run again Wilson, and to put his name on the map, which indeed happened as the river was eventually named Rio Roosevelt.
With the exception of Rondon, Roosevelt's co-leader of the expedition, and the men under his command, it seems that few of those who started the expedition were truly prepared for the incredible hardships the trip had in store. Parasitic insects carrying disease and infection, poisonous snakes, hostile indigenous peoples, the endless rain, the torturous course of the river, and the jungle's unwillingness to sustain them with any food all made this a near-death experience for the group. At one point Roosevelt would have taken his own life with morphine, except that his son, Kermit, refused to leave him behind. One of Rondon's men consistently stole from the inadequate food stores, was confronted and subsequently murdered one of his peers. Kermit's recklessness on the river cost the life of another of Rondon's men. Nevertheless, through sheer determination, the rest of the party that actually started on the river came through, having charted much of the course of a 1,000 mile tributary of the Amazon.
My only criticism is that it felt the recounting of the expedition dropped off rather suddenly after the party finally found the reinforcements Rondon had--months before-- sent via another route to meet them with additional supplies. Roosevelt's health never really recovered from his nearly fatal leg infection and he died 5 years later. Kermit, whose strength and persistence on the expedition were simply awe-inspiring, married the woman to whom he became engaged just before the trip, but never really flourished and began a slow decline into alcoholism, bad investments, affairs, and probably underlying it all, depression. This is an absolutely gripping tale. If you were not an admirer of Roosevelt before--and he was a controversial character for many reasons--you will find much here to make you reconsider.
Photographs, maps, detailed source notes, selected bibliography, and index included.