Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer

Tim Jeal

YALE University Press, 2007 - Biography & Autobiography - 570 pages

"A magnificent new life . . . [and] a superb adventure story. . . . There have been many biographies of Stanley, but Jeal's is the most felicitous, the best informed, the most complete and readable and exhaustive, profiting from his access to an immense new trove of Stanley material." -- Paul Theroux, front page, New York Times Book Review 

Henry Morton Stanley, so the tale goes, was a cruel imperialist who connived with King Leopold II of Belgium in horrific crimes against the people of the Congo. He also conducted the most legendary celebrity interview in history, opening with, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

 

But these perceptions are not quite true, Tim Jeal shows in this grand and colorful biography. With unprecedented access to previously closed Stanley family archives, Jeal reveals the amazing extent to which Stanley’s public career and intimate life have been misunderstood and undervalued. Jeal recovers the reality of Stanley’s life—a life of almost impossible extremes—in this moving story of tragedy, adventure, disappointment, and success.

 

Few have started life as disadvantaged as Stanley. Rejected by both parents and consigned to a Welsh workhouse, he emigrated to America as a penniless eighteen-year-old. Jeal vividly re-creates Stanley’s rise to success, his friendships and romantic relationships, and his  life-changing decision to assume an American identity. Stanley’s epic but  unfairly forgotten African journeys are thrillingly described, establishing  the explorer as the greatest to set foot on the continent. Few biographies can claim so thoroughly to reappraise a reputation; few portray a more extraordinary historical figure.

 

What people are saying

Review: Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer

User Review  - Eddy Allen - Goodreads

Henry Morton Stanley, so the tale goes, was a cruel imperialist who connived with King Leopold II of Belgium in horrific crimes against the people of the Congo. He also conducted the most legendary ...

Review: Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer

User Review  - Mike - Goodreads

The famous quote, "Dr Livingstone, I presume" is all that seems to be remembered about this great explorer who survived three major African expeditions in the late 1800s. He was later blamed as a ...

About the author

Tim Jeal is the author of two previous biographies, Livingstone and Baden-Powell: Founder of the Boy Scouts, both published by Yale University Press and both chosen as Notable Books of the Year by the New York Times and the Washington Post. The author lives in London.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer
• Author: Tim Jeal
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: YALE University Press, 2007
• ISBN: 0300126255, 9780300126259
• Length: 570 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Adventurers & Explorers; Biography & Autobiography / Editors, Journalists, Publishers