Through the Brazilian Wilderness

In 1913, former President Theodore Roosevelt accepted what might be the most dangerous mission of his life: to explore an unmapped river flowing through the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. Teaming with legendary Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon and a small crew of scientists and paddlers, Roosevelt descended the Rio da Duvida, a river so treacherous that no Westerner had ever navigated it. The expedition faced rapids that destroyed their boats, starvation, dysentery, and a jungle that seemed determined to kill them. Roosevelt, already in declining health, pushed himself beyond all reasonable limits, knowing the world was watching. This is not merely a travelogue of exotic flora and fauna, though it contains those in abundance. It is a firsthand account of one man's confrontation with the unknown, his unlikely friendship with a Brazilian general who became a moral compass, and the brutal cost of discovery. Roosevelt would never fully recover from the journey. The river won.