Candice Millard
This was an excellent novel about Theodore Roosevelt and one of the darkest times of his life. It begins with Roosevelt losing the presidential election to Woodrow Wilson. In addition to the defeat, he falls out of favor with his Republican friends for running outside of their party and losing by such a huge margin. It’s at this low-point that Roosevelt decides to take on an incredible journey through the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. The journey is “organized” by Roosevelt’s acquaintances, Father Zahm and Fiala, an explorer with little experience in planning food and equipment for long expeditions. The men realize too late that Fiala has done a horrible job in his planning when they open food crates to find expensive olive oils, teas, and mustards instead of staple foods that the group needs to survive. The men encounter dangerous animals and Indians on the trip, while at the same time fighting off disease, wounds, fevers, and starvation. Roosevelt and his companions never expected to face such a difficult journey, but they managed to survive the jungle and lived to tell about the River of Doubt.