text: "Doctor Livingstone I presume?" is undoubtedly one of the most well known quotes in history.  Very few people, however, are familiar with the history underlying the meeting of Dr. David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley.
  
  This book details the lives of the two men and the historical background through which they were thrown together.  Livingstone, one of the foremost explorers of his day is searching for the source of the Nile River.  Through a combination of bad luck, poor planning, disease, weather, natives, etc., Livingstone is virtually stranded on the banks of Lake Tangyanika.
  
  Henry Stanley, a newspaper correspondent undertakes a rescue mission at the direction of his publicity hungry publisher.  This book details that mission and the international setting under which it took place.  The perils of African exploration in the late 19th century cannot be overstated.  This book does an excellent job impressing this upon the reader.  
  
  I found this book very similar in style and experience to Undaunted Courage (which detailed the Voyage of Discovery undertaken by Lewis and Clark) and River of Doubt (dealing with Theodore Roosevelt's exploration of the Amazon basin.  If you enjoyed either of these books, you will like this one as well.  If you read this book and enjoy it, I highly recommend the other two
  