The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

by Candice Millard

These particular dugouts, moreover, were in questionable condition. In fact, Roosevelt’s recounting of them sounded ominously like a description of the Seven Dwarfs. “One was small, one was cranky, and two were old, waterlogged, and leaky,” he wrote. “The other three were good.”

Rondon had learned through excruciating hardship how important routine, discipline, and military ritual were in maintaining morale during an expedition into the Amazon.