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From The Washington Post

Reviewed by Jason Roberts

It's hard to imagine a more intriguing -- and intimidating -- challenge to the biographer's art than the life of journalist, explorer and continental opportunist Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904). He is rare among celebrities of centuries past, in that the years have not transmuted his fame into benign augustness nor obscurity, but rather into infamy: Post-Victorian sensibilities have long since extinguished the heroic light once cast upon Stanley's expeditions into so-called "darkest Africa." The man who did more than any other Westerner to illuminate what Joseph Conrad termed "the unsolved mystery of that continent" is now less commemorated for his achievements than condemned for the ruthlessness by which he achieved them.

Even during his lifetime, exploits that once thrilled admirers began to appall. Stanley wrote casually of beating his native porters to perk up "the physical energy of the lazily inclined." He once observed that the massacre of 33 Bumbireh warriors should teach the survivors to "in future behave with some regard to the rights of strangers." Yet as Tim Jeal points out in this commanding, definitive biography, much of this was bluster, calculated to fit the public-consumption ideal of the Great White Conqueror.

The unguarded Stanley was remarkably minimal in his racism, declaring himself "prepared to admit any black man possessing the attributes of true manhood, or any good qualities, to my friendship, even to a brotherhood with myself." The violence he perpetrated was regularly exaggerated, usually by Stanley himself. It's not hard to find evidence of similarly inexcusable behavior among his contemporary explorers -- even the Scottish missionary David Livingstone, whom Stanley famously set out to "rescue" from the African interior, not only killed several natives but punitively burned their huts. None of this serves as an apology for the man, but it demonstrates that is impossible to view Henry Morton Stanley plain. One must filter his image through two distorting prisms, that of his era and of our own.

The overarching challenge of Stanley's biographers has always been one of sorting through the subject's self-perpetuated bits of legendry, glosses on the truth and outright lies, and here Jeal takes an already-fascinating story to new levels. It's long been known that "Henry Morton Stanley" began life as John Rowlands, the illegitimate and abandoned child of a teenage mother in Wales; after years of suppressing that fact, Stanley explained that, wanting to escape both "the stains [of] ugly poverty" and "the odium attached to the old name and its dolorous history," he'd made his way to New Orleans, where he'd been propitiously adopted by the cotton broker Henry Hope Stanley. But Jeal puts forth, for the first time, convincing evidence that this was an utter fabrication. It's likely that Stanley never even met the wealthy merchant whose name he appropriated.

Profoundly rootless in Civil War-era America, the young man drifted through both the Confederate and Union armies, then through the U.S. Navy (which he deserted for the goldfields of Colorado) before seeking glory overseas. He launched an ill-starred expedition to Asia Minor -- in reality, a jaunt on a fruit boat from Boston to Smyrna, which promptly degraded into chaos, claims of horse thievery and a stint in a Turkish prison. But the persona of Stanley the adventurer was born. He was 26 in 1867, when he convinced the New York Herald to underwrite the publicity stunt of tracking Livingstone (who was not lost, just rarely able to communicate with the outside world) to the shores of Lake Tanganyika.

Stunt though it was, the trek and two subsequent expeditions proved supreme tests of will. Stanley emerged from Africa 18 years later "like a man of seventy-five: gaunt, hollow-eyed and grim," haunted by the deaths of the vast majority of his traveling companions, famous but constantly in fear of being exposed as the self-creation he was -- or worse yet, as the cast-off, low-caste boy he had been.

Jeal's biography is an unalloyed triumph, not only because it is painstakingly researched and eminently readable, but because it never loses sight of the abandoned child in the man, driving him forward, "able to frighten, able to suffer, but also able to command love and obedience." Such a personality, Jeal notes, is "an extinct species, and all the more remarkable for that."

Copyright 2007, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

Review
Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography (National Book Critics Circle Award National Book Critics Circle 20070930)

"A magnificent new life . . . . [Jeal] demonstrates in a way that makes [this] a superb adventure story as well as a feat of advocacy [that] Stanley was probably the greatest explorer ever to set foot in Africa. . . . 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 (Paul Theroux New York Times Book Review 20070301)

"Tim Jeal has written a great book-shrewd, perceptive and engaging."-Jane Ridley, Sunday Telegraph (Jane Ridley Sunday Telegraph 20070301)

"Tim Jeal's book is not just an absorbing, sometimes horrifying biography but a feat of advocacy-an ardent, intricate defence of a man history has damned. . . . His subject could not be more topical. . . . For the question at the core of the book is do we have the right to force our idea of civilization on people's whose culture is abhorrent to us?"-John Carey, Sunday Times (John Carey Sunday Times 20070301)

"This powerful and meticulously researched biography. . . . Assisted by a treasure trove of previously inaccessible letters and diaries, Tim Jeal presents the most cogent argument for years in favour of a radical reassessment of the Welsh-born American bastard. . . . This magnificent book is a stirring riposte to his many critics and a blow struck for a more distinguished posterity."-Justin Marozzi , Evening Standard (Justin Marozzi Evening Standard 20070301)

"[An] important book."-Giles Foden (Author the Last King of Scotland) Irish Times (Giles Foden Irish Times 20070301)

"[A] gripping and scrupulously researched biography . . . unpicks Stanley's public lies to reveal the . . . injustice of the damage they have done his reputation. . . . As Jeal authoritatively demonstrates, Stanley remained stalwartly humanitarian, ever true to his men."-Tom Stacey, The Spectator (Tom Stacey The Spectator 20070301)

"Everything I thought I knew about Henry Morton Stanley was wrong. It is put right in this major biography. . . . Stanley's life was ''impossible'' in the sense that you cannot believe how much he crammed into it. . . . Stanley's three great expeditions to the interior are at the heart of the book. There were caravans numbering 200 bearers, armed guards, women and children, half of whom might never reach their destination. . . . His reputation still lies in the shadow of Livingstone's. But if anything will rescue it, this newly researched, rich, perceptive life may do the trick."-Peter Lewis, Daily Mail (Critic's Choice) (Peter Lewis Daily Mail 20070301)

"Masterly. . . . Tim Jeal handles each of the great expeditions, including the formidable trans-African journey of 1874-7 in which Stanley navigated lethal Congo rapids in the tinpot steamer Lady Alice between close encounters with cannibals, with a panache and momentousness worthy of Kipling or Conrad."-Jonathan Keates, The First Post (Jonathan Keates The First Post 20070301)

`In this stunningly comprehensive biography Stanley himself is run to earth as a figure far more complex, contradictory and chameleon-like than was previously suspected. . . . A rollicking read as well as a moving, incisive study of one man's restless, evolving character and ambitions. . . . The relationship with Livingstone is brilliantly brought to life, while the later Congo debacle is mapped as never before. . . . [Stanley's] life seems tailor made for the full-blown Hollywood treatment."-Tom Adair, The Scotsman (Tom Adair The Scotsman 20070301)

"It is a wonderful story almost epic in scope. . . . What a biopic it would make!"-Sara Wheeler, The Times (Sara Wheeler The Times 20070301)

"[An] exciting and extraordinary tale."-Ann Wroe, Daily Telegraph (Ann Wroe Daily Telegraph 20070301)

"Tim Jeal is a biographer as fearless in his genre as Stanley in the jungle. . . . His exhilerating book overturns much of the negative orthodoxy about the man he unhesitatingly calls Africa's greatest explorer. . . . This is a page-turner. Jeal is a compelling storyteller, and his prose sweeps the reader along on a river of revelations."-Julie Davidson, Sunday Herald (Julie Davidson Sunday Herald 20070301)

"Tim Jeal's absorbing biography . . . impresses for its scope, depth and ambition."-The Herald (The Herald 20071007)

"Jeal's book is a stunning and provocative work, an awesome piece of scholarship executed with page-turning brio. . . . A remarkable reassessment that will send shivers through historians and writers on Africa."-Kevin Rushby, The Guardian (Kevin Rushby The Guardian 20071009)

"Of the many biographies of Henry Morton Stanley, Jeal''s ,which profits from an immense new trove of material, is the most complete and readable."-New York Times Book Review (Editors'' Choice) (New York Times Book Review 20070930)

Read the entire New York Times Sunday Book Review of Stanley. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/review/Theroux-t.html 20071120)

"[A] meticulous biography. . . . Besides rescuing Stanley from an unfair but accepted caricature, Jeal skillfully illuminates Stanley''s work and its morality and separates him from King Leopold''s exploitation and oppression of the Congo. This excellent reassessment of Stanley''s life is essential for all libraries.-Library Journal (Library Journal 20071206)

"There have been many biographies of Stanley, but Jeal''s is the most felicitous, the best informed, the most complete and readable and exhaustive. . . In its progress from workhouse to mud hut to baronial mansion, it is like the most vivid sort of Victorian novel. . ."-Paul Theroux, front page, New York Times Book Review (Paul Theroux New York Times Book Review 20071223)

Listen to Tim Jeal''s interview on WILL AM, Focus 580 with David Inge. Download the program with Real Player or Windows Media Player. (http://www.will.uiuc.edu/am/focus/default.htm 20071223)

Named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2007 by The New York Times Book Review (Notable Book of the Year New York Times Book Review 20071206)

"[An] impressive, revealing, and well written biography. . . . Tim Jeal has had both the good fortune to see [Stanley''s] papers and the skill to construct a new interpretation around them. He recognizes Stanley''s feats and views them in the context of his age rather than ours. Moreover, he adds new layers to his subject''s character."-David Gilmour, New York Review of Books (David Gilmour New York Review of Books 20081101)

"Jeal takes an already-fascinating story to new levels. . . . Jeal''s biography is an unalloyed triumph, not only because it is painstakingly researched and eminently readable, but because it never loses sight of the abandoned child in the man, driving him forward, ''able to frighten, able to suffer, but also to command love and obedience.'' Such a personality, Jeal notes, is ''an extinct species, and all the more remarkable for that.''"-Jason Roberts, Washington Post Book World (Jason Roberts Washington Post Book World 20080228)

"[T]his commanding, definitive biography . . . is an unalloyed triumph."-Jason Roberts, Washington Post Book World (Jason Roberts Washington Post Book World 20080301)

"[An] impressive, revealing, and well written biography. . . . [Jeal] adds new layers to his subject''s character."-David Gilmour, New York Review of Books (David Gilmour New York Review of Books 20080418)

"By uncovering the truth behind the myth, Jeal paints a sympathetic portrait of the ultimate self-made man."-Rebecca A. Clay, Wilson Quarterly (Rebecca A. Clay Wilson Quarterly 20080512)

Nominated for the 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Biography category (Los Angeles Times Book Prize Los Angeles Times 20080709)

"A meticulously detailed, thoroughly documented, definitive biography of Henry Stanley. . . . Despite immense fame and extensive writings by and about Stanley, this biography repudiates the conventional perceptions about the explorer. . . . Jeal''s fascinating biography will not be last word on Stanley, but it should be the starting place for years to come. Highly recommended."-Choice (Choice 20081103)

"Sympathetic yet balanced, perceptive and full of perspective, this is biography at its best." -Ross Leckie, The Times (London) (Ross Leckie The Times (London) 20081201)

Silver medal winner of the 2008 Independent Publisher Book Award in the category of Biography. (Independent Publisher Book Award Independent Publisher )

Click here to view videos from the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Finalist Readings and Awards Ceremony. (http://tinyurl.com/6rwuhc )

Click here to listen to the author sort out legend from the truth on The Leonard Lopate Show: "The Great Adventures of Sir Henry Morton Stanley." (http://tinyurl.com/6aex9l )

Read the entire New York Times Sunday Book Review of Stanley here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/review/Theroux-t.html. . (New York Times Book Review )

Selected as a 2008 AAUP University Press Book for Public and Secondary School Libraries. (Best Book of the Year Selection Association of American University Presses (AAUP) )

Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title from 2008. (Outstanding Academic Title Choice )

Selected as one of the best books of 2008 by the Washington Post in the Biography category (Washington Post )

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.

Customer Reviews

A different H.M. Stanley
Tim Jeal goes against the grain with this account of the incredible life of African explorer Henry Morton Stanley. For the last 140 years or so history has largely condemned Africa's greatest explorer for his cruelty and difficult personality. Jeal, apparently having access to documents previous biographers have not, makes a compelling argument which reveals Stanley as a softer, more egalitarian explorer than his counterparts, who unfortunately, through misguided exaggerations in his own published writings and other unfortunate events (stemming from the day he was born), lead to the widely held views that we have today.

This book, if closer to the truth than all those before it, turns the myth of Africa's greatest explorer on it's head.

Maybe a little too much detail
The problem with this book is that it's 475 pages long. If you're gonna read a 475-page book it better be about something you're awfully interested in, and I was only marginally interested in Stanley. The research I've done indicates that this is the definitive book about him, which is great and all, but I didn't really need a definitive book about him; a 300-page summary would've done fine.

I'm realizing that 300 is the right number of pages for me. After that I start to feel like I'm working.

In addition, I find Jeal's take on Stanley overly apologetic. I get it, he wasn't quite as bad as everyone makes him out to be, but that doesn't mean he was a totally righteous dude; Jeal goes too far sometimes.

Jeal's a good writer though, easy to read, so for a 475-page book it did move pretty quickly.

I wouldn't call this required reading unless you're a serious Stanley buff.

An outstanding biography, I presume!
This is well written and well research biography. Captures the cultural and personal elements of Stanley's life. One experiences the details and struggles of Stanley's explorations in Africa as well as the range of his personal and romantic relationships. Both honest and fair in assessing Stanley's strengths & weaknesses. One unfortunate flaw: there are no maps to clarify the routes of Stanley's explorations.