The Sad Story of Burton, Speke, And the Nile: Or, Was John Hanning Speke a Cad?: Looking at the Evidence

Richard Burton discovered the source of the Nile. No, John Hanning Speke discovered it. The problem is that someone had to have discovered it during their expedition of 1857-59, but just a day before their 1864 debate to settle the matter Speke died of a gunshot wound thought to be accidental. Burton became the hero of the Nile, and Speke became, in Victorian terms, a cad. Carnochan (humanities emeritus, Stanford U.) has carefully analyzed the two men's texts and found some surprising evidence that rather than being an opportunist, a liar and, yes, a cad, Speke was honestly convinced he had the better claim and that the case against him is unproven. The result is a fascinating case study of what can and does happen to historical narrative and how evidence can be used in a variety of interesting if not downright sinister ways, by anyone. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)