Explorations and Adventures of Henry M Stanley

Africa was still a mystery to most of the world in 1890 when this book was published. The public's knowledge of the Dark Continent was largely limited to what they read in adventurous accounts of jungle expeditions by explorers and big game hunters. Among the most famous of these was Henry Morton Stanley.

Stanley was well-known to European and American audiences thanks to his famed quest to find Dr. Livingstone in 1872. Sixteen years later, in 1888, Stanley undertook yet another expedition into the heart of Africa via the Congo River -- this time to rescue Mehmed Emin Pasha, who was trapped in the midst of an Islamic uprising.

Fun Fact: Henry Morton Stanley is believed by certain scholars to have been the inspiration for the infamous "Kurtz" character in Joseph Conrad's classic 1899 novel of the Belgian Congo, The Heart of Darkness. Conrad's novel and characters were later updated and moved to a Vietnamese setting in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Thus, the events described in this book can be seen as an inspiration for both of these renowned works.

As an aid to the imagination, this wonderful book also features "more than 200 striking illustrations" of savages, wild animals, and thrilling scenes from Stanley’s journeys. Chapter summaries are given in point form.

(https://www.erbzine.com/mag60/6098.html)