Candice Millard’s “River of the Gods” admittedly wasn’t able to grip me as much as her past works, “River of Doubt” and “Destiny of the Public,” were successfully able to.

Still, as per usual with her books, I found an enjoyably great deal to learn about. Until now I had no idea that the Nile River, despite being the foundation for some of the oldest continuously (human) inhabited places in the entire world, remained a mystery in regards to its origin point. Neither did I have any prior knowledge about Richard Burton or John Speke, the men who sought to discover these mysterious headwaters, the intense clash of pride and personalities that would shape their hazardous expeditions and the developed enmity that would shape their relationship and their legacies in the long years to come. Overall, it made for very interesting reading.

Also, I greatly appreciated how throughout the book, Millard’s narrative in regards to the “explorers” and others like them at the time is anything but a lionizing one. Far from it, from start to end she makes it perfectly clear that these colonial and imperialist exploits never “discovered” anything, and rather were ventures into places that had long been known and inhabited by other peoples for centuries. Similarly, credit is duly given to the local guides and translators who without their help, the journeys described in this book and many others like them would have ended in total failure.

Again, I unfortunately didn’t find “River of the Gods” to be quite as on the scale of her past works. However, to be honest that may just speak to the excellent quality of her past works. This is still a very good and also wonderfully fair historical read. There is much to learn from here - including, but not limited to, the details of several harrowing journeys taken through eastern Africa, a detailed record of a fascinatingly complex relationship between two men, and a sizable general glimpse of the forces at play in this “age of exploration.”