Stanley, the making of an African explorer

by Frank McLynn

Behind the public man, one of the most fascinating late Victorian adventurers and probably the greatest of African explorers, lay a disturbed personality. A pathological liar with sadomasochistic tendencies, Stanley’s achievements exacted a high human cost.

Genres: Biography, Africa, History, Nonfiction

411 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Frank McLynn is an English author, biographer, historian and journalist. He is noted for critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon Bonaparte, Robert Louis Stevenson, Carl Jung, Richard Francis Burton and Henry Morton Stanley.

McLynn was educated at Wadham College, Oxford and the University of London. He was Alistair Horne Research Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford (1987–88) and was visiting professor in the Department of Literature at the University of Strathclyde (1996–2001) and professorial fellow at Goldsmiths College London (2000 - 2002) before becoming a full-time writer.

Reviews

[Michael Charton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Frank McLynn's Hearts of Darkness and used it for research for a Historical Fiction book I wrote. I was originally going to base the book on Stanley alone, but a friend suggested that Stanley was so obnoxious, I would not be able to make him sympathetic.
She was right. There is nothing sympathetic about Henry Morton Stanley. This was a harder book to read than Hearts of Darkness. Reading it, I realized everything in Stanley's life led to what he became as an African explorer and possibly the most skilled one. He grew up hardscrabble in North Wales. A chance took him as a cabin boy to New Orleans. Another chance meeting got him adopted, then dumped and he ended up in the American Civil War fighting for both sides. He brcame seriously ill in Arkansas, and apparently that prepared him to deal with disease in Africa.
I gave it four stars only because after a while, it is a slog, especially when he's going downstream on the Congo, fighting battle after battle. At first I was shocked the book did not go further, then I realized the author didn't have to. If you are interested in the most skilled African explorer, this is the book for you.

[k.]

this books about stanley suffers, in large part due to being a book about stanley, a quite unsympathetic man, especially once he really gets going. however placing controversial people in the context of their time (the scramble) and situation (a rather abused background of the work house) is something i believe should be done with attention and care, not a blithe and almost callous drive to label stanley a deranged bisexual, as if this helps or explains anything. also note the dubious use of words such as sodomitical and perverted.

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great subject matter and very well researched, but dryly written. Covers Stanley's early life in great detail, much of which was obfuscated by Stanley in his autobiographies. Also did a good job on the Livingstone expedition and the fallout upon Stanley's return (which was surprising and interesting). Seemed to lose steam when coving Stanley's second expedition (1st man to cross Africa coast to coast) and ends without any discussion of reaction to this accomplishment. I also wasn't particularly persuaded by the psychoanalysis which was sprinkled throughout. And my last complaint was that a book like this could use better maps. Overall though, fascinating subject matter trumps author's failings.

[Donal Shine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent portrayal of a now controversial figure but who was a product of his environment and the times he lived. He was a brutal man in his treatment of Africans and his alliance with leopold with forever damage his reputation but his sheer physical achievements and discoveries by mere force of will are unmatched by all explorers of the time.

[Bruce K. Beyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complicated Hero

This book provides a comprehensive description of the many conflicting aspects of a deeply troubled but intensely driven man. From extremely humble beginnings that he sought to hide through progressive iterations and employment, Stanley found his passion and life's calling in Africa. He emerged a hero, but with many detractors and dead bodies.

[Philip Stouffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complicated

[Ralph Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly dark chronicle of a dark mind and a dark life, that sought to bring a light to “the darkest continent” but instead brought only darkness.

Stanley’s image alone conjures visions of the worst of British History. Empire. That swear word is still revered in some quarters. Not this one. Even as a conservative-minded individual, Empire will forever be a bloody curse word spat out by a mouth full of bile and blood and, for a significant period towards the end of the nineteenth century, Stanley was the epitome of that word. What’s significant is the outrage at the time, as our protagonist used up African lives to the extent they might as well have been slaves (and many of them were).

It’s hard not to feel a sense of ominous awe at the exploration of a place so wild and hazardous, one wonders whether it should have been “explored” in the first place and not obviously left to the people who already lived there.