The Strong Brown God: The Story of the Niger River

by Sanche de Gramont

This is the true story of a handful of obsessed explorers who fought man and nature to find and open the mighty, mysterious Niger River. "A magnificent book", raved the San Francisco Examiner when the book was first published in 1976. Pulitzer Prize-winner Sanche de Gramont has written an epic history with a racing pulse.16-page black-and-white insert and maps.

Genres: Africa, History, Nonfiction, Western Africa

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Born Saint-Charles Armand Gabriel de Gramont*, he used the name Sanche de Gramont as his byline (and also on his books) during the early part of his career. He worked as a journalist for many years, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 for local reporting written under pressure of a deadline. In February 1977 he became a naturalized U.S. citizen, and had his name legally changed to Ted Morgan. He wrote about that experience in On Becoming American. He was a National Book Award finalist in 1982 for Maugham: A Biography.

*His father was a military pilot who died in an accident in 1943, at which point he inherited the title "Comte de Gramont". He was properly styled "Saint-Charles Armand Gabriel, Comte de Gramont" until he renounced his title upon becoming a U.S. citizen in 1977.

Reviews

[Julio The Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I do not know much about rivers, but I think the river is a strong brown god".---T.S. Eliot
That's the Count Sanche de Gramont to you, or as he reinvented himself, the late Ted Morgan, historian, and biographer extraordinaire. The story of the search for the source of the River Nile by Sir Richard Burton (no, not the actor) has been told and retold endlessly, from best-selling books to BBC mini-series. The Count, ever the rebel, decided to go in the opposite direction and tell of the much harder task of finding the font of the River Niger in West Africa, headed by the Briton Mungo Park (no, not the musician Mungo Jerry). Either this journey is one more example of British imperialists on the hunt, an exciting boy's true adventure story, or both simultaneously. However, if you choose to read THE STRONG BROWN GOD you gotta love Mungo. God made the Scots #1.

[Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Country: Niger
Landlocked Africa

European exploration of the Niger River. One explorer was caught by pirates and forced to drink poison, one murdered, one drank his own blood to keep from dying of thirst in the desert, etc.

Niger facts:
1. 76% of girls are sold into child marriage to old polygamist men. Women have no rights, no education, horrendous abuse.
2. Tons of child and teen girls forced to have baby after baby — and watch baby after baby die, in massive infant mortality from child mothers.
3. Boko Haram — an Islamic terrorist organization — systemically torture and kill Christians in Niger.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I strongly recommend this book.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much better than I thought it would be..since its history and I usually struggle w/ history books. But..it was actually quite fascinating, both because it was about a place I myself had been struggling to survive in as a naive white person for two years..and also because I knew I was going to check out the Niger myself after reading it. Good book. Pretty well written. Definitely a good read if you want some more insight into the colinisation of West Africa.

[kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

well, you have to hand it to the french and english. what a bunch of imperialist clowns! i did like the "adventure" and exploration bit about the niger, but like most history books i read i always want a little bit more when I'm done.

[U02awf2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must read more about the explorer Mungo Park