The best, and I mean that exactly, the best adventure book for adults ever, and I mean that exactly, ever written. My friend and I constantly recommend books to each other, and one or the other of us will say, "It's a good book but..." and the other will always respond "...it's not The Last Hero" Put this book down and you will not sleep until you pick it up again. I am on my fifth read, and I am sure that it will not be my last. There are images and moments that I will never forget. I cannot believe that anyone allowed this book to go out of stock. Find it, steal it, read it, you will not be sorry

The story told in "The Last Hero" is that of Sir Henry Morton Stanley (of "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" fame, but that's another story) who, in 1885 organized and led a mission to rescue Emin Pasha, governor of Equatoria, the southernmost province of the Egyptian Sudan, which was surrounded by the Mahdist uprising. Amazingly, Stanley decided to approach Equatoria from the Atlantic side of Africa by going up the Congo river and overland through central African forest. The expedition crossed hundreds of miles of then-unknown Africa, encountering every obstacle and difficulty along the way. The eventual end of the mission is one of history's great ironies, but I don't want to give anything away.

"The Last Hero" is a very well-written adventure story, all the more interesting because it is true. My only complaint (a very minor one) concerns the absence of notes and bibliography which could have given some historical documentation and sources.

Another good book is "The River Congo: The Discovery, Exploration and Exploitation of the World's Most Dramatic River" (nonfiction) which is also by Peter Forbath (a journalist who reported on Africa). Henry Morton Stanley was also a bestselling author, he wrote: "How I Found Livingstone" (1872); "Through the Dark Continent" (1878); and "In Darkest Africa" (1890).

Not many novels have the effect of this one. If I have to pick a 'prequel' to Robert Ruark's _Something of Value_ than it is surely this one. If you like Forbath's, then read Ruark's!

_The Last Hero_ sweeps you away to a time when honor and ego and plain old guts -- combined with the vast heart of unexplored Africa meant adventure. I read this novel in amazement, at the rich characterization, the lavish settings, the graphic narrative; only to be further amazed when I learned that this wasn't a mere work of historical fiction, but rather a fictionalized account of real events.

Read it. You won't find many novels that do this. Serious business, deep in the Congo Ituri rainforest, late 19th century...no one can hear you scream.

Kurt W. Wagner kwagner@gti.net

Excellent biography of Stanley, who had an incredible life. He was illegitimate, abandoned by his mother, put into a work-house, and had an all-round awful childhood until meeting the kindly fellow in America who adopted him. But the meat of the book is Stanley's three major trips in Africa: to find Livingstone, to explore and continue Livingstone's work, and to relieve Emin Pasha. Each involves amazing hardships and adventures and Farwell does a wonderful job of giving lots of detail and colour as he relates these exciting trips. Worth reading by anyone who has an interest in Burton but isn't sure what to turn to next.

This is one of Farwell's earliest works. I think I have read everything he has written and I am always amazed at the high quality and readability. This book is about Henry M. Stanley, and Africa through his eyes. Farwell refuses to allow modern prejudices to enter into the story. Stanley is unique - emotionless yet idealistic, shy yet driven. Read this book not only to find out about the man, but for the incredible adventures. For an excellent 1 volume history of African exploration, read Africa Explored by Christopher Hibbert.

Henry M. Stanley was the first human to cross equatorial Africa. And he did it roughly four times, fighting beast, insects, disease and the most violent, primitive peoples ever encountered by an explorer. This account of his entire life is fascinating: raised in a Scottish orphanage, adopted by a New Orleans merchant, fought in the Civil War on the side of the South, journalist and -- all training for the hardships of his true calling -- explorer. On his first trip he finds Stanley to deliver the famous quote -- two more trips each more astounding than the preceding are to follow. He retires as a hero of the British exploration community. This book is a gem, well written by an author who rightly reveres deeply his subject. This is a must read for anyone who enjoyed "Undaunted Courage." Stanley is 20 Lewis and Clark's rolled into one man. Maps are good for a paperback.

There exists a New Yorker review of this book (June 2,2003 issue). It is absolutely fascinating - the review, that is, not the book. It exposes the book as "pedestrian rehash that reads like one of the Victorian hagiographies". The book has ignored all the intervening research and accepted as fact Stanley's self-serving and now-discredited accounts. Most of the New Yorker review is about Stanley and Livingston themselves and chockful of realistic info about these fascinating and utterly dissimilar characters.

With an encompassing narrative, and detailed descriptions of people, circumstances, and places, "Into Africa" is a worthy read for simple entertainment. Learning about Livingstone and Stanley, was engrossing, and learning about their repective journeys through Africa was harrowing and at times defied belief. If ever anyone needed an example of pure determination and pursuit of a goal, and then accomplishment, this book delivers. Showing an emotional aspect, Mr. Dugard demonstrates that attaining a near impossible goal can also result in more intangible rewards, such as Stanley's maturation through his ordeal in Africa to find Dr Livingstone. If you never think history can be exciting, read this book and you will be disabused of that notion. Warring tribes, hostile natives, opportunistic chieftans, Arab slavers, constant disease and inummerable parasites (non-human), all combine to form a formidable obstacle for these intrepid adventurers.

I picked up this book after reading a glowing review of it by Bill Bryson. I'm so glad I did. It's a true page turner. The research is original and powerful and balanced, documenting the obstacles and horrors encountered by Stanley and Livingstone. I was amazed that a book packed with that much information could be such a riveting read. As one who has traveled extensively in Africa, I also thought this book captured the epic sprawl of that wonderful continent (and made me realize how brave Stanley and Livingstone were to venture in alone). This is a story I thought I knew, but realized that I knew very little about until reading Dugard's book.

H.M. Stanley was one of the most inhumane people to ever live. He murdered thousands of Africans on his "adventure" through Africa. Reading these five star reviews makes me SICK. Everyone who labels Stanley as courageous is very very IGNORANT. Read King Leopold's Ghost by Hoshchild. Then you might feel some guilt for all the praise that you gave Stanley. I'm sure those thousands of Africans who were murdered by this coward did not appreciate his "adventure". Not to mention that 90% of the stories he told in this "adventure book" were complete lies. Go ahead and praise a mass murderer and give him five stars. Maybe if you were not so ignorant you would realize how evil this man really was.

This is an amazing book, just a great read and some of the most outrageous adventure in modern times. There is nothing to cause one to suspect this is anything but the unvarnished truth, and as such, it beats fiction all hollow. This was when men were truly men (see also the outstanding parallel work by John Speke, whose adventures preceded Stanley's and seem to amply confirm the narrative in all particulars). Stanley was a professional writer and writes like one, ever so much better than one expects from such a tough guy. As an added bonus of enormous interest, we are treated to an amazing insight into the personalitiy of the equatorial African with whom we now live in much the same tenuous relationships as did the author. I doubt this book is widely read anymore, and what a pity. Great stuff.

The natives of Africa who worked with Stanley called him Bulla Marari - "The Rock Breaker", and with good reason. It is really very hard to appreciate Stanley's accomplishments from today's perspective. In 1874, Stanley left Zanzibar. By 1877, he had crossed the continent and reached the Atlantic Ocean. There is nothing modern man can do that would equal this accomplishment. Today's daring adventurers climb rocks or mountains or go bungee jumping. Stanley was traveling into the unknown. Not even space exploration today holds the quality of the unknown, as did Africa in Stanley's time. The hardship he faced during this time was unbelievable by today's standards. His circumnavigation of Lake Victoria alone contained a constant stream of near death scrapes that not only required staggering amounts of physical courage, but a mental toughness as well. A lot of the reviews I have read on this work focus on Stanley's political incorrectness. I urge a closer reading of the work. Stanley was actually extremely open minded and, more than anything, fair in his views and certainly very progressive. When discussing the character of the African natives, Stanley was of the opinion that "they are, in short, equal to any other race or colour on the face of the globe, in all the attributes of manhood." Stanley was an insightful enough observer to draw comparisons between African legends and Christian beliefs, giving each equal respect and recognizing their similarities. Stanley even at one point performs the ceremony of blood-brotherhood with the famous chief Mirambo, which involved the sharing of blood by mutual cuts on the leg. I would suggest that Stanley was not only a progressive during his own time, but for any time. He judged men simply by deeds, nothing more or less. If only Stanley recieved the same standard of judgement. In Stanley's time, so much was unknown, and the world seemed so large and rich. In our time, so much more is known, and yet our world has become so narrow, specialized and petty. There can never be another man like Stanley. We are all far more interested in watching a teenager eat a plate of worms on "Fear Factor."

This book is a fresh take on Henry Stanley and well worth the read. However, the book ends right after his second exploration, quite literally. For a book that poured over Stanley's early years, many pages to his 7- and under years, the paragraph (literally) that sums up his knighthood, authoring of more books, marriage and subsequent adventures is pretty disconcerting. It is like the author died and someone else tacked on an ending and called it done.

Really enjoyed this one. The research was thorough, the writing was crisp, and the insights into the tormented Stanley intriguing. Of all the Stanley biographies out there, this is the most thorough, scholarly and objective.