Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart

Published to rave reviews in the United Kingdom and named a Richard & Judy Book Club selection—the only work of nonfiction on the 2008 list—Blood River is the harrowing and audacious story of Tim Butcher's journey in the Congo and his retracing of renowned explorer H. M. Stanley's famous 1874 expedition in which he mapped the Congo River. When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to Africa in 2000 he quickly became obsessed with the legendary Congo River and the idea of re-creating Stanley's legendary journey along the three-thousand-mile waterway. Despite warnings that his plan was suicidal, Butcher set out for the Congo's eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots. Making his way in an assortment of vehicles, including a motorbike and a dugout canoe, helped along by a cast of characters from UN aid workers to a pygmy-rights advocate, he followed in the footsteps of the great Victorian adventurers. An utterly absorbing narrative that chronicles Tim Butcher's forty-four-day journey along the Congo River, Blood River is an unforgettable story of exploration and survival.

• The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912
• Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon
• Ruthless River: Love and Survival by Raft on the Amazon's Relentless Madre de Dios (Vintage Departures)
• Chasing the Devil: The Search for Africa's Fighting Spirit
• Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
• The Trigger: Hunting the Assassin Who Brought the World to War
• Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone
• Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II
• Chasing the Devil: A Journey Through Sub-Saharan Africa in the Footsteps of Graham Greene
• The Last of the President's Men