Based on contemporary records, as well as Alan Moorehead's solid sense of history & subtler character insights, this is an exciting record of the 50 years of African exploration & the attempt to reach the sources of the Nile. Across these pages we meet a mixed group of reckless to resolute figures--soldiers, sportsmen, scholars & reformers who thru whatever motivation made these journeys to the interior & endured ordeals of hardship. Burton, the romantic, & his associate Speke, later his opponent, the practical & sensible Baker, Livingstone on his last expedition which ended with the famous confrontation & partnership with Stanley, George Gordon, the first in the long lineage of military mystics, all these & others were fascinated & challenged by the Nile. Provides rich historical & geographical background.--Kirkus The four sections of this narrative trace Gordon's story on the Nile, & in particular the Exploration; the Exploitation; the Moslem Revolt; & Christian Victory.