Book Description
Today, the achievements of the great Victorian explorer and linguist Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890) may be more widely acknowledged than they were in his own time. The centennial of his death was marked in England and America with exhibits, conferences, and book-length studies of his life and work.
In this volume, eight leading scholars and book collectors present a remarkable composite picture of Burton's legacy: his adventures as an explorer of unknown lands and little-known cultures; his achievements as a geographer and translator; the mysteries of his relations with other explorers and of his personal life. The illustrations represent rare items in Burton's own library and the collections of Edwards H. Metcalf and Quentin Keynes. ... Read more

Book Description

Richard Burton was one of Victorian Britain's most protean figures. A soldier, explorer, ethnographer, and polyglot of rare power, as well as a poet, travel writer, and translator of the tales of the Arabian Nights and the Kama Sutra, Burton exercised his abundant talents in a diverse array of endeavors. Though best remembered as an adventurer who entered Mecca in disguise and sought the source of the White Nile, Burton traveled so widely, wrote so prolifically, and contributed so forcefully to his generation's most contentious debates that he provides us with a singularly panoramic perspective on the world of the Victorians.

One of the great challenges confronting the British in the nineteenth century was to make sense of the multiplicity of peoples and cultures they encountered in their imperial march around the globe. Burton played an important role in this mission. Drawing on his wide-ranging experiences in other lands and intense curiosity about their inhabitants, he conducted an intellectually ambitious, highly provocative inquiry into racial, religious, and sexual differences that exposed his own society's norms to scrutiny.

Dane Kennedy offers a fresh and compelling examination of Burton and his contribution to the widening world of the Victorians. He advances the view that the Victorians' efforts to attach meaning to the differences they observed among other peoples had a profound influence on their own sense of self, destabilizing identities and reshaping consciousness. Engagingly written and vigorously argued, The Highly Civilized Man is an important contribution to our understanding of a remarkable man and a crucial era.

Customer Reviews (5)

Nuanced
A critical study of Sir Richard Burton. Most of his biographers, bowldered by the epic nature of their subject (understandably so, this is one remarkable guy), often smooth over some real contradictions in his thought, less than favorable interpretations, etc.. This author brings Richard under real scrutiny, examining his views on religion, sex, race, and his persona as a "explorer" or "impersonator"; Not much new info; just bringing to light what is usually in the background of most biographies. Perhaps a finer portrait emerges of the man- though its undeniable that some of his statements- esp about race were wildly contradicting. He tries to demonstrate how Victorian attitudes influenced who Burton was- which is obvious in a way, he knew what his countrymen would find shocking and played on it- thus building his persona as a man who flaunted social conventions, though of course in other respects- sexuality, his Stone Talk work- he didn't cater to anyone, - one thing I couldn't help noticing, and which Kennedy points out, though a compulsive, prolific author, and highly opinionated, Burton was not a particularly good writer.

Sir Captain Richard - a Precursor to Modernism
Nineteenth century Western colonialism and imperialism including the Industrial revolution changed Western values and social perceptions and mores, but more so, our awareness of the world as a whole, in terms of defining ourselves against difference. The Victorian influence towards modernism is far greater than historians first realized. One of the most romantic and pivotal figures of the Victorian age was Sir Captain Richard Burton. In Kennedy's critical biographical overview of the man's life and thought, unlike most of the numerous biographies to date, attempts to represent and reinterpret Burton's life and thought in the context of the Victorian era. By doing this, he proposes, we come to understand this highly complex genius in terms of the historical values of the time.

Kennedy outlines Burton's numerous accomplishments as a prolific writer, linguist, (twenty-five languages and many dialects) explorer, archaeologist, spy, amateur physician, translator, artist, poet, expert swordsman and sexologist. He wrote over twenty-five travel volumes containing his many adventures, and translated the Kumar Sutra and The Arabian Nights which is the most often read an quoted in present time. Similar to many of his contemporaries, his studies of Orientalism and African cultures were done in the spirit of difference, or the `other'. Kennedy's thesis is that Burton was a product of the Victorian age but an important precursor to modernism.

As the 19th century has a virtual endless list of incredible men and women, according to Kennedy, what set Burton apart, was "...restless determination to extend the reach of his experience to ever more pockets of humanity and to draw insights from those increasingly varied encounters in order to advance the larger epistemological quest to understand, explain, and classify difference." (p.270) Burton's vast written work, his copious notes and observations reveals this holy quest, his unwavering pursuit of hidden knowledge and knowledge of the `other', strange cultures and bizarre religions until his death in 1895.

The author devotes most of his analysis on Burton's works as a sexologist. Burton's many erotic translations, promoting his notion that Victorian repression of sexual matters and desire is tremendously unhealthy, paved the way for future sexologists to study the subject within a scientific framework. His controversial translations and writings also revealed a sexual hypocrisy that the Victorian age is infamously known for. Rather than study sex on moral grounds, Burton proposed a relativist position, attributing different climates around the world to certain sexual behaviours. We know this to be nonsense, however, including this premise, Burton achieved distance from the moral position, giving his subject a form of objectivity.

Dane Kennedy's approach to Burton is a fresh perspective of the man. He was an individual that accomplished more in one lifetime than many, but he was a man of his times, attempting to define the identity of western culture during a period of vast change. Despite over one hundred years since his death, even a critical appraisal of his life and work, does not in any way lessen his accomplishment nor profound influence in the Romantic age towards modernism.

A Highly Civilized man is a fresh and well-written account of an icon of the Romantic-Victorian age.

Early 21st century scrutiny of a 19th century Subject
A thoughtful book which most of the time attaches its arguments firmly to sources, scrupulously researched. A little verbose at times, tending to fall prey to the current academic fashion of attaching a superfluity of labels (particularly those ending in -ist) to its subject. Certainly there's the intention to 'de-mythologize' Burton and expose him to some quite valid criticisms, as well as plaudits. Kennedy reminds us that J.L. Burckhardt, not Burton, was the first European to travel on the Hajj in disguise. He suggests that in Burton's day, such disguise would only really have been necessary to enter the holiest places; simply because Burton could have professed conversion to Islam. I'm uncomfortable on those occasions when Kennedy states speculation as fact, for example (p63): 'Burton saw an opportunity to tap into this rich vein of curiosity by undertaking the pilgrimage to Mecca and exposing the city and its Muslim faithful to the scrutiny of his Christian Countrymen'. And then, later: "It must be understood, however, that Burton's decision to undertake a hajj in an "Oriental" disguise was directed as much at a British audience as it was at the Muslims with whom he associated during the journey." Although the facts are suggestive that this may be true, no proof is given - that would be very hard to do.

Kennedy concludes (p92) "There is little doubt that Burton too was attracted to impersonation precisely because it provided a way of transgressing against the codes and conventions that governed society, challenging the psychic shackles imposed by civilization." This conclusion could be a little superficial: we might also add that his daily dress of grotesque beard; eyes sometimes ringed with kohl; the brandishing of iron cane, pistol or navaja and his frequent adoption of a truly wicked and fearsome persona ("to shock"), could well have been a part of the same charade - whose ultimate purpose was to divert attention away from self. Did Burton suffer from some profound insecurity and a distaste for who he really was? Was he truly the "Sheep in wolf's clothing" that W.S. Blunt claims? The book had perhaps an opportunity to take this further.

The point is raised that, far from hacking their way through virgin African forest - unexplored territory - as is the general impression (my own, anyway), Burton and Speke took advantage of well-trodden arteries which had been used for slave and ivory traffic by Arab traders for generations - affording themselves of the supply infrastructure and information sources already in place to tend these parties. Wielding what must surely be humour, Kennedy observes that Burton was faced with insurmountable difficulties in the use of disguise on his African expeditions.

The subject of race and Burton's undeniable racism threads its way unceasingly through this book. Kennedy uses the word `troubling' numerous times when confronting it. He employs an early 21st century scrutiny to pass clear judgment on a latter 19th century culture - perhaps unconsciously setting relativism aside.

In 1633, Galileo Galilei was forced to abjure and recant his prior assertion of "...having held and believed that the sun is the center of the world and immovable, and that the earth is not the center and moves." Although we are dumbfounded by this today, we shouldn't be. There are dogmas in place in 2006 which no historian or anthropologist dares to contradict - on pain of professional suicide and even jail in a few countries. These dogmas touch upon versions of history enforced by law and statements upon the subject of race that are officially held to be modern heresies. Thus when judging Burton by the measures of our day with regard to racial matters and, then, reversing the scrutiny and weighing this book's criticisms by my own unfashionable standards; I, as a reader, am forced to conclude that neither one of them has the right of it. I am hit on the nose by the consequences of relativism!

Burton had good and bad to say about everybody - and an awful lot of the bad is directed at white Victorian society (which is nowhere labeled `racism'). The scientist in Burton (and he was a very good one I think) brought out his objectivity; the human being railed mightily and emotionally against slights, insults and injustices; some the consequence of his own misguided actions; some dead on target. I think Kennedy walks into the pitfall of early 21st century political correctness: time and again he is so troubled by negative remarks made concerning a particular race, yet seems to accept those that are positive without demur. In true critique, must we not take exception to all such generalizations? Burton made `hurtful' observations on colour and physiognomy which, I predict, in future times, will be done in the painless language of DNA base-pairs.

Certainly Kennedy cites instances where Burton takes relativistic stands, such as (p155): "There is more of equality between the savage and the civilizee - the difference being one of quantity, not of quality - than the latter will admit. For every man is everywhere commensurate with man". Kennedy then asks "How can these remarks be reconciled with Burton's insistence on the innate inferiority of the African?" Having raised the idea that the contradictions could be ascribed to "an undisciplined and volatile mind", Kennedy points out that such a conclusion would cause us to:

"... miss what may have been Burton's most intriguing contribution to Victorian conception of race. His understanding of race as a closed space defined by difference serves a double purpose: it supports the standard racists' contention that biology is destiny, but it also ventures the view that races have their own systems of beliefs and behaviour, each incommensurate with the other and implicitly standing against a universalist standard of values."

Doesn't that take rather a lot of words to say (without any of the promised reconciliation) that Burton was inconsistent: giving the Victorians a fresh new viewpoint on race while at the same time reinforcing their old prejudices?

The chapter entitled "The Sexologist" thoroughly covers a lot of well-trodden ground; over-trodden one might say. On homosexuality, Kennedy is of the opinion that Burton had probably actually indulged and cites a rather telling letter of Swinburn's in support, yet, knowing this was rather likely (even close to certain), so what? What more can be written about Burton? The answer is evident here: very little. This, by the way, is not a criticism of the book.

The final chapter "The Afterlife" is for me one of the more interesting. Kennedy speculates on Burton's spiritual beliefs and brings out his agnosticism as well as his horror of annihilation at death. In "A Glance at the Passion Play" (I quote the full context which Kennedy doesn't), Burton says (p165), on Spiritualism, " it satisfies a real want, a crave which is to millions - a part only of our kind but numbering millions - the bread of moral life." He then offers a `Spiritualist's Decalogue' of which Kennedy quotes article VI "Death, physically considered, dissolves a certain organic unity; it is not, however, annihilation, but change."

This was an astute selection by Kennedy and brings us closer to an understanding of Burton's spirituality.

A Pioneering Effort
When I first discovered that a new Burton biography by a professor of history was soon to be published I had high expectations. Upon receipt of Professor Kennedy's Burton biography titled The Highly Civilized Man, I started digesting his work. The asserted themes of the work included 1) placing Burton and his work in context with the larger issues and challenges of Victorian times, and 2) using Burton to better understand the nature of changes beginning to percolate socially due to the interaction of Victorian England with its colonial enterprises.Indeed, as far as I know, this approach is pioneering and insightful. As I continued reading to about page 90, I thought Professor Kennedy's effort was well done, and the book would be another jewel to adorn the crown of Burton research, along with the work of Mary Lovell.I am of the opinion Professor Kennedy succeeded in achieving both this stated objectives.From this standpoint, his book is a success.

The observations of Burton as a harbinger bridging the transition from the Victorian Era to the Modern Era reflect the type of insights one expects from a biographer trained in the rigors of academic scholarship.I enjoyed the in depth academic analysis of Burton from the standpoint of concepts of relativism as applied to notions of cultural difference.Professor Kennedy has also highlighted the role played by Burton in the early development of anthropology as an academic discipline.Social/Cultural Anthropology's primary research methodology is called participant/observation.Certainly, this approach was an inherent part of Burton's nature, and the scope of his anthropological observations were derived by this research approach.I was also glad to see that Professor Kennedy gave particular attention to discussing Burton's Stone Talk and his Kasidah.The earlier biographies did not devote much attention to either of these important works.

As long as Kennedy stayed focused on academic based scholarship he avoided the pitfalls that plagued the earlier biographies that predated Lovell's Rage to Live. Unfortunately, the book digressed into complicated histories that are not fully recounted.Yet, Professor Kennedy felt compelled to make several definitive conclusions sorely lacking the professional level of scholarship a professor should be required to meet.The outcome of Kennedy's failures is a setback in Burton scholarship. Given the effort to place Burton in context, the irony is that the book with notable examples omits necessary context to understand and evaluate some of the Professor's conclusion. For example, the recounted history of Burton firing over the head of a crowd of Greek Orthodox Christians fails to acknowledge that Burton resorted to this solution after trying less violent alternatives, and after he and fellow members of his party were injured by rocks thrown at them.The key point is that Burton used a hierarchy of options to confront unstable situations. This point also relates to the absurd conclusion that Richard and Isabel were role-playing in the desert, and that there is a hidden psychology to uncover.The decision to have Isabel act as Richard's son was an attempt to protect her from rape and death, and to give Richard an option before resorting to lethal force.The Burtons took their personal safety serious as illustrated by their habit of carrying two revolvers and three Bowie knives when traveling.



Professor Kennedy has a mildly obsessive theme about people Burton did not know going into the desert for homosexual interludes that randomly pops up in the book.He includes a discussion of Burton and several earlier biographers who speculated about Burton's sexuality. But Kennedy failed to note those writers assumed Richard and Isabel had a loveless and sexless marriage, and they used outmoded, almost now quaint, modes of Freudian analysis. The illusion of the Burton's loveless marriage was gutted by the original sources brought to light by Ms. Lovell.Professor Kennedy fails to point out the deficiencies of Brodie and Mclynn concerning their analysis of Burton and sexuality. The deficiencies in The Highly Civilized Man about the question of Burton's sexual interests are too numerous to address in a short review nor are the issues he raised concerning Damascus, Crowley and others. Kennedy's treatment of Burton in Damascus is a travesty. Not once does the professor inform the reader that all segments of society in Damascus worked to bring Burton back from his recall. The Damascus treatment is lacking in necessary detail and skewered to the degree that the discussion should have been deleted form the book. It is also one of the examples where Kennedy included information that is extraneous to accomplishing his two professed themes.

The book appears to have been written with segments produced using an academic analysis methodology with other portions written in an almost stream of consciousness with points lacking critical evaluation.Moreover, there are instances of contradiction. This leads one to conclude the work was not scrutinized properly before going to press. The Kasidah analysis includes a conclusion that Burton believed there is no God or afterlife, yet in the chapter titled the Afterlife, Kennedy indicates Burton may have concluded there is continuing life. In fact, towards the end of the Kasidah and towards the end of note 2, Burton makes it plain he has a positive view on a continuing future life. It is not a life however with the attributes of anyone's religious acculturation. The chapter on the afterlife in large part is one of the commendable aspects of this biography.

All of the hallmarks of a work that will withstand the centuries are present in this work if only the good professor would later reissue it, and correct the many deficiencies and expand the themes of Burton as harbinger, Burton as catalyst, Burton as a pioneering mystic and Burton as scribe in the manner of Thoth, the Ancient Egyptian principle of wisdom.

Foundations of Burton's Thinking
One of the most remarkable men who ever lived was Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton.He was a poet, explorer, linguist, soldier, and translator, with remarkable accomplishments in each of these fields.The best biography of this astonishing and energetic man is still _The Devil Drives_ by Fawn Brodie, but in _The Highly Civilized Man: Richard Burton and the Victorian World_ (Harvard), Dane Kennedy has written something else.His book covers aspects of this multi-faceted man who was busy all his life making his own legend, but who is revealed here as "very much a man of his time, a product of nineteenth-century Britain and its imperial encounter with the world."Kennedy traces the sources of the intellect behind Burton's many efforts, even his famous physical feats such as his pilgrimage in disguise to Mecca or his role in finding the source of the Nile.Among other things, Burton was, as the chapter headings here classify him, an Orientalist, a relativist, a racist, and a sexologist, and Kennedy has taken a useful look at all these roles.

The different chapters with their themes cover Burton's life in a more-or-less chronological way.Burton had a genius for languages and would eventually become fluent in perhaps a couple of dozen of them.His first foreign assignment was to the British East India Company, and although Burton sought glory in battle, his contribution was really to increase the knowledge of the land, the language, and the people.He took his capacity for imitation of other cultures to its most famous exercise in making the hajj in 1853.As Kennedy points out, there was no reason for any disguise; he could have simply have asserted his belief in Islam (a freethinker, he always did value the societal strengths of Islam, and he considered Christian missionaries to be on a misconceived quest) and joined the flood of foreigners in the pilgrimage.But this would not serve his purposes.A convert to Islam (no matter of what degree of sincerity, or how loosely attached to the Church of England) would be outcast from respectable society, preventing him from becoming a national hero and limiting sales of his great _Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah_.Burton's racism was a product of his time, and of his travels in Africa; he respected African cultures, even if he felt Negroes to be inferior and incapable of improvement.Kennedy makes the case that Burton had a relativist conception of culture, but such relativism did not encompass any struggle for improvement of political rights.Burton's value of other cultures included his view of their acceptance of sexuality, an acceptance he found lacking in his own country.Kennedy explains that with publication of his translations of the _Kama Sutra_, _The Perfumed Garden_, and especially _The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night_, Burton intended to subvert his nation's "purity forces."While Burton wrote that the _Nights_ was not fit for women to read, he filled it with strong and independent female characters who exhibited the sort of sexual desire women were supposed to keep hidden.Burton wanted to change British sexual morality, and his views would have grated against the current "just say no" philosophy."Shall we ever understand," he sighed, "that ignorance is not innocence?"

Kennedy makes the case that not only was Burton remarkable in the many aspects of his efforts, he was eager to "advance the larger epistemological quest to understand, explain, and classify difference."He thus informed Victorian debates on race, religion, and sexuality, debates that are continuing into our own contentious times.Burton is a compelling character, and these essays on different features of his career and interests are filled with important insights about him and about the times of which he was a product.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Troubled, Mistitled, Schizophrenic
For the first time in my readership of Burton, the author avoids criticizing, belittling or scorning his travel companions, largely because his travel companions are little to the purpose.

Unfortunately, most of what Burton writes is little to the purpose. Like his other works, I expected this to be a knowledgeable travelogue and journal of discovery, but a discovery of what? Burton spends the first quarter of the book discussing Alexandria and Cairo before he gets underway (this last detail almost lost in the maze of other irrelevant observations). He names every sedimentary formation and every flower on his route, and then disputes or corrects every historical observation on Midian -- Biblical, Greek, Latin and Arab. When someone washes a handful of sand and exposes a tiny nugget of gold (presumably the intended core of this book), the detail itself appears as a small nugget amidst so much worthless sand.

From time to time, a promising anecdote or observation on a Biblical place or event raises clarity above the labyrinth, only to plunge again and at length.

Glutted with learning, too heavy for the non-scholarly reader, thick with observations of questionable relevance, and fraught with meaningless, private anecdotes, the book taxes the reader considerably. Use caution. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Did he ever even go to West Africa?
"Wanderings in West Africa"&where does one begin&
Well, for starters, perhaps the book should be more aptly titled Wonderings about West Africa.
Perhaps ones impression of the book depends on what one expects. I expected a traditional travel/adventure narrative, not a commentary about Euro-African politics, African culture, ethnography (incredibly racist by the way), geography, etc., that could have easily been written from Sir Richard Burtons study, with access to a moderately well-stocked library. Indeed, there is very little evidence from the book itself that Sir Richard ever even visited the West African coastthat is how detached the actual words are from what he must have actually encountered.
According to his own narrative, Sir Richard never stayed in any one place more than 24 hours, yet in his writings he expands his writings on each of those locales to 50+ pages! While the book is titled Wanderings in Africa, nearly half of the entire first volume is about his preparation for the trip and getting to Africamaking the reader wonder if he will ever read about Sir Richards magnificent wanderings in Africa at all.
Besides all that, Sir Richards arrogance, nationalism, and outright racism is painfully evident throughout (e.g. I believe the European to be the brains, the Asiatic the heart, the American and African the arms, and the Australian to the feet of the man-figure. &in the various degrees of intellectuality, the Negro ranks between the Australian and the Indian&).
Annoyingly enough though, while considering the French manifestly the inferiors of Englishmen, he nevertheless feels it necessary to pepper his narrative with numerous French quotes to demonstrate his sophistication (which the editors have very helpfully refrained from translating)he did after all consider himself a man of the world. The book is also filled with numerous and very long footnotes, sometimes right in the middle of a sentence or a thought, making the reading very choppy and difficult.
From the perspective of the entertainment, as well as the intellectual value of this book, I give it one star out of five&a waste of intellect, time, paper, and ink&

Richard F. Burton
Richard Burton's world travels are not unique.From the paleolithic onward documentations of man's trekking have been found.Capt. Burton writes much about his travels.Personal commments about the topography and people and their customs reflect the prevailing attitudes of the society from which he comes.Some observations are uncharitable, but others are of interest. Burton's eye for detail makes for fascinating reading.The intelligentsia of that period used foreign, mostly French phrases, i.e., au contraire, en passant, or other languages, Spanish, some Greek and or Latin.Many times the usage is incorrectly used, it illustrates a person of learning. That this work shows the beginning of European colonialism, the true value of this author is fascinating adventure.

Burton, coastal explorer of West Africa
In WANDERINGS IN WEST AFRICA, the future Sir Richard Burton starts out with his departure from Liverpool and his arrival in Madeira, stops briefly in Tenerife (Island of the guanches in the Canary Islands) then heads down the coast (still onboard the A.S.S. Blackland), around Cape Verde and Goree, to Bathurst on St. Mary Island off Cape St. Mary near the mouth of the Gambia, then around the hump of Africa, past Elmina and Cape Coast Castle, and eventually reaches the island then known as Fernando Po (named after a Portuguese officer, Fernao do Po - now Bioko, a part of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea) near the more familiar islands of Principe and Sao Tome. Along the way, there are many vivid descriptions of people and locations.

At Tenerife, Burton provides a short account of the conquest of the guanches and describes them as being dark-complexioned [curiously, Peter Russell, in his excellent biography PRINCE HENRY 'THE NAVIGATOR' which recounts the beginnings of European involvement in West Africa, describes them as "probably fair-haired" based on descriptions in primary Portuguese sources].

At St. Mary's, Bathurst, he impugns Mungo Park, a well-known explorer, disparaging the latter with phrases such as "[s]o Park calls the Bomax," referring to the term "bentang" - even though a "bentenki" tree plays a role in the Lion of Manding in Courlanger's A TREASURY OF AFRICAN FOLKTALES.He also refers to Mumbo Jumbo (also mentioned by Francis Moore), which Park didn't come across until further from the coast, and coffles of slaves as "genius," implying they are fictional - notably, he fails to mention that Park wrote before the British interdiction on slave trading. The entire attack is sadly reminiscent of Burton's actions and statements in relation to J. H. Speke in Alan Moorehead's THE WHITE NILE. Here, we are also introduced to his rather curious views on Africans - (1) the "noble" race which includes Berbers and Mandingos, (2) the "ignoble" race which includes "pure-blood" or typical Africans and (3) Kaffirs or others he thinks may also be biracial. Later, we are treated to something of the history of the establishment of El Mina and Cape Coast Castle as well as the cruel type of slavery practiced by the Efiks of Calabar - a comparison with slavery in the contemporaneous South of the United States being quite to the benefit of the latter!

All in all, the work is highly entertaining if frequently superior and derogatory to any and all with whom Mr. Burton disagrees or whom he dislikes; however, where neither Mr. Burton's desire for glory nor his prejudices come into play, the book appears to be generally accurate and informative.

Valuable & readable for students of African history
Note:I am resubmitting this review so it will not be anonymous...

One must come to Burton's "Wanderings in West Africa" with the understanding that there are not a lot of primary (first-hand) sources ofinformation about Atlantic coast Africa in the 19th century. Furthermore,the majority of books about Africa of this era (mostly by explorers andmissionaries; few or none by Africans) are long out of print and can onlybe accessed in mjor libraries. Given that, Burton's work is a valuable andreadable account of a voyage along Africa's West Coast, as far south asFernando Po (Equatorial Guinea). (We should be thankful for the publisher.)His text is direct and readable. The account is chronological, port byport. Burton describes the the places and people and whatever catches hisinterest. His opinion is always present. Burton goes into manydetails--trade, early colonial administration, rulers, languages, etc.--andit is unlikely that any one reader would be interested in all of it, butmost students of African history are likely to find something of interest.There is no index.It should be noted that Burton has plenty of scorn anddisdain for many of the Africans he encounters (as well as for manyEuropeans); this is typical for Burton, but may upset a reader who is newto this writer.

Many of the names (of places, tribes, etc.) areantiquated so a good reference book is a help.

Overall this is notBurton's best book, but it does have a place along with his other books onAfrica ("First Footsteps in East Africa", "The Lake Regionsof Central Africa") and it adds something of value to the reputationof the great writer, explorer, traveler, and translator who produced"Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Mecca" and"The Arabian Nights".

Valuable & readable for students of African history
One must come to Burton's "Wanderings in West Africa" with the understanding that there are not a lot of primary (first-hand) sources of information about Atlantic coast Africa in the 19th century.Furthermore, the majority of books about Africa of this era (mostly by explorers andmissionaries; few or none by Africans) are long out of print and can onlybe accessed in mjor libraries.Given that, Burton's work is a valuable andreadable account of a voyage along Africa's West Coast, as far south asFernando Po (Equatorial Guinea). (We should be thankful for the publisher.) His text is direct and readable. The account is chronological, port byport.Burton describes the the places and people and whatever catches hisinterest.His opinion is always present.Burton goes into manydetails--trade, early colonial administration, rulers, languages, etc.--andit is unlikely that any one reader would be interested in all of it, butmost students of African history are likely to find something of interest. There is no index.

It should be noted that Burton has plenty of scornand disdain for many of the Africans he encounters (as well as for manyEuropeans); this is typical for Burton, but may upset a reader who is newto this writer.

Many of the names (of places, tribes, etc.) areantiquated so a good reference book is a help.

Overall this is notBurton's best book, but it does have a place along with his other books onAfrica ("First Footsteps in East Africa", "The Lake Regionsof Central Africa") and it adds something of value to the reputationof the great writer, explorer, traveler, and translator who produced"Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Mecca" and"The Arabian Nights". ... Read more

Book Description
One of the lesser known works about India by the eminent Victorian explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton, Falconry in the Valley of Indus is not just a book on the once-popular sport of falconry, it is a significant recording of the culture of Sindh. In this lively narrative first published in
1852, Burton reveals the mores and manners of the landed gentry in Sindh while providing the gory details of a sport they practiced with passion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Entertaining look at falconry practices 150 years ago.
Richard Burton describes his experiences living in the Sindh province (modern day Pakistan).He details the various birds of prey used by the falconers, and relates the tales of his hunting expeditions.

This is definately not a how-to book, rather it is a glimpse at the history of falconry as it was practiced in the Indus valley. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Freudian flights of fancy...
This is a fair study on the life of Burton though it really doesnt shed any new light on this extraordinary individual, other than psychoanalytic musings on his childhood, grasping at the reasons behind his motivations for his in-depth studies on sex, his neurotic drive to be constantly on the move, his marriage and relationships. The texts major flaw is this particular approach to the subject; (that intellectual sixties trend of psychoanalysing the dead) reinforcing the myth that Burton was the stereotypical Victorian, demonstrating all the biases, racism and limited view of the world that we associate with this stereotype. This man goes way beyond the Victorian model and certainly transcends Freudian flights of fancy. If you can ignore McLynns psychological method, this biography is a welcome addition to Burton studies.

R.F. Burton is a difficult study because there are so many sides to the man. In fact one can certainly classify him as a phenomenon. He was a linguist of genius, and there are scholars who claim he was the linguist of the 19th century: a poet, scholar, soldier, archaeologist, anthropologist, Master swordsman, mystic and genuine seeker of the Divine. As a sexologist he anticipated Freud, and sought to open the subject of study against typical Victorian opposition. His writings occasionally indulge in the common racism of the times, though his observations and comments of unknown cultures and particular characters in those cultures can be insightful and sympathetic. Similar to most individuals of depth and genius, Burton was a contradiction, and this biography more than displays these contradictions.

The psychoanalytic technique to delve into a subject can be questioned. As one writer has said, it is difficult enough to rely on the results of psychoanalysis in writing about a live person, let a lone a dead one, with no opportunity to respond to allegations such as misogynist, self-destructive type and latent homosexual. To use this technique, distilling this fascinating man down to a Freudian case study is a disservice to the man and his work. However, as stated above, if you can side step these useless speculations, that really doesnt reveal anything new about the man, this biography is informative and worth looking into. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

"Flabbergaster"
I found this novel a delightful and interesting read. The inclusion of Buddhist spirituality, an amazingly international array of characters (even a Chinese Muslim (Uighur) tavernkeeper), and emphasis on the Native American experience, make this novel deeper and more meaningful than most other novels set in the American West. Though the plot is intriguing, the novel is at its best in depicting its colorful and diverse characters (Taylor, buoyant half-Indian, with a passion for music, who pairs up with Sun moon, beautiful Tibetan nun)and settings, from a Digger Indian village to Mormon Utah. Despite its realistic depictions of the racism and violence of the period, the story remains light-hearted and humorous. Sir Richard Burton, Nile explorer and drug addict, was particularly enjoyable. It would have been more interesting if his Sufi beliefs were explored a bit further, but of course he was somewhat of a side character.

This book "rocks" !
Everything about this book kis great. Awesome and *original* story line, interesting historical facts, and wild adventure.This is the first book I've ever read by Blevins, and now I can't wait to order his other books, pronto. If you like historically based novels and unique :-) story lines, this is the book for you.

Rock Child
This book is a first person account of a perilous journey taken across the wild west.What makes this book unique is the company the teller keeps.A half breed of unknown origins is the teller, and he is in the company of aTibetan nun whom he has fallen in love with, and a spy for theBritish--who's secretly practicing a 'heathen' religion!If you likewesterns...try this one!It's a western with a twist! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

lush, adventure in search of the source of the Nile..
one of the last great geographical explorations was in order to find the source of the Nile..British Victorian hero and adventurer Richard Burton took a young John Speke under his wing and attempted to find the answer to this great mystery..Burton, translator of the 'Kuma Sutra' was an adventurer through and through..wanting to experience native customs and cultures and to understand them not just use them for the purposes of the journey. The relationship between Burton and Speke is the heart and soul of this book. Their differences become more profound the deeper their adventure takes them and finally Speke leaves Burton as he goes for the glory for himself. Burton's life comes to a sad end for such a richly led life. This is an incredible book. Rich, exciting, thrilling.

Fumbling for the source of the Nile
A marvellous novel about the brilliant explorer and writer Richard Burtonand his young protege John Hanning Speke and there ill-fated attempt tolocate the source of the White Nile in the east African highlands.In theprocess we see the difficulties faced by Victorian explorers and you canonly marvel at the bravery of the men to undertake such journeys.

We seethe recriminations that erupt in London when Speke claims (rightly butwithout real proof) that Victoria is the source and how Burton is sidelinedand eventually is lucky to find positions in the worst jobs in the foreignservice.A sad end for one of the worlds greatest explorers.I can feelno sympathy for the end that Speke met with, but read it for yourself.Nowa movie, but the film cannot capture a fraction of the book. ... Read more

Book Description

Cliff Janeway is back! The Bookman's Promise marks the eagerly awaited return of Denver bookman-author John Dunning and the award-winning crime novel series that helped to turn the nation on to first-edition book collecting.

First, it was Booked to Die, then The Bookman's Wake. Now John Dunning fans, old and new, will rejoice in The Bookman's Promise, a richly nuanced new Janeway novel that juxtaposes past and present as Denver ex-cop and bookman Cliff Janeway searches for a book and a killer.

The quest begins when an old woman, Josephine Gallant, learns that Janeway has recently bought at auction a signed first edition by the legendary nineteenth-century explorer Richard Francis Burton. The book is a true classic, telling of Burton's journey (disguised as a Muslim) to the forbidden holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The Boston auction house was a distinguished and trustworthy firm, but provenance is sometimes murky and Josephine says the book is rightfully hers.

She believes that her grandfather, who was living in Baltimore more than eighty years ago, had a fabulous collection of Burton material, including a handwritten journal allegedly detailing Burton's undercover trip deep into the troubled American South in 1860. Josephine remembers the books from her childhood, but everything mysteriously disappeared shortly after her grandfather's death.

With little time left in her own life, Josephine begs for Janeway's promise: he must find her grandfather's collection. It's a virtually impossible task, Janeway suspects, as the books will no doubt have been sold and separated over the years, but how can he say no to a dying woman?

It seems that her grandfather, Charlie Warren, traveled south with Burton in the spring of 1860, just before the Civil War began. Was Burton a spy for Britain? What happened during the three months in Burton's travels for which there are no records? How did Charlie acquire his unique collection of Burton books? What will the journal, if it exists, reveal?

When a friend is murdered, possibly because of a Burton book, Janeway knows he must find the answers. Someone today is willing to kill to keep the secrets of the past, and Janeway's search will lead him east: To Baltimore, to a Pulitzer Prize-winning author with a very stuffed shirt, and to a pair of unorthodox booksellers.It reaches a fiery conclusion at Fort Sumter off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.

What's more, a young lawyer, Erin d'Angelo, and ex-librarian Koko Bujak, have their own reasons for wanting to find the journal. But can Janeway trust them?

Rich with the insider's information on rare and collectible books that has made John Dunning famous, and with meticulously researched detail about a mesmerizing figure who may have played an unrecognized role in our Civil War, The Bookman's Promise is riveting entertainment from an extraordinarily gifted author who is as unique and special as the books he so clearly loves.Download Description
"Cliff Janeway is back! The Bookman's Promise marks the eagerly awaited return of Denver bookman-author John Dunning and the award-winning crime novel series that helped to turn the nation on to first-edition book collecting. First, it was Booked to Die, then The Bookman's Wake. Now John Dunning fans, old and new, will rejoice in The Bookman's Promise, a richly nuanced new Janeway novel that juxtaposes past and present as Denver ex-cop and bookman Cliff Janeway searches for a book and a killer. The quest begins when an old woman, Josephine Gallant, learns that Janeway has recently bought at auction a signed first edition by the legendary nineteenth-century explorer Richard Francis Burton. The book is a true classic, telling of Burton's journey (disguised as a Muslim) to the forbidden holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The Boston auction house was a distinguished and trustworthy firm, but provenance is sometimes murky and Josephine says the book is rightfully hers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (50)

Does Dunning know what is or isn't supernatural?
I'm about 3/4 way thru this book (Bookman's Promise), Coco keeps saying she doesn't believe in the supernatural but surely seems to be affected by spirits & talks about ghosts. In my dictionary, both of these are considered supernatural...

I agree with the others that Dunning has not come thru with this book. To listen (I have the audio) to the tapes of the conversation(s) of 2 dead people thru the old lady (isn't that rather supernatural?) is pretty boring & really makes for dull reading, I'm sure.

I will finish the book, mainly because I've read later segments of Janeway's career & want to understand the pairing of Cliff & Erin. But it is a disappointment...don't recommend anyone else reading it.

Still delicious!
Although I did not enjoy this book as much as the first two in this series, I still think it's better than a lot of other thrillers.Dunning is a literte writer, and his prose is quite wonderful.I really do like Cliff Janeway, and this book explains what makes him tick a bit more.Each new book is a revelation of Janeway's character.In this book Janeway is on the trail of a hand-written journal of the great explorer Richard Burton.He manages to pick up some totally likeable females to help him, and a really bad guy by the name of Dante who has a personal vendetta against him.Cliff has to set out on an historical search in Charleston that takes him back to a year before the War Between the States.There is some pretty good history here, and a nice little mystery that doesn't get explained until the very end.A wonderfully enjoyable book.

So who said he should write a story
John Dunning swapped the insider details of the book collector's world that peppered his first two Janeway novels (compiled in BOOKED TWICE) for an actual plot. Fortunately, it almost makes up for the lapse in the curriculum. The notion that the explorer Sir Richard Burton may have been more than an observer during his (historical) sojourn in U.S. just before the Civil War kinda tickles the fancy. But next time, Dunning... next time there better be more lessons.

Maybe 3 1/2 stars
This kept my interest. You've got Janeway doing his thing as you'd expect. Though "Bookman's Wake" is my favorite Janeway story, this one has its moments. I especially liked the descriptions of Charleston, SC as I used to live there. The use of Richard Burton (the explorer) was what most kept me involved here. I even picked up something from Dunning's suggested reading list at the end.

Rollicking Read, but not Big Time Fiction
The Bookman's Promise, by John Dunning, 2004.Cliff Janeway is an intriguing character with a unique profession - a bookseller, or book connoisseur, or Bookman.Like an alcoholic who runs a bar in order to have ready access to his oblivion, Janeway has to have the big books, the important books.Dunning's mysteries tend to be so enjoyable because of the way his character interests us in books, their feel, their provenance, their allure.Janeway also happens to be an ex-cop, and this keeps the plot running.

The pivotal books in this mystery are those by the famous explorer, linguist, writer, and radical Richard Burton - so we get a second story out of history.From top to bottom, the mystery is well crafted and only marginally predictable.There are a couple of great secondary characters that motivate us and make Janeway's work human and worthwhile.The personal relationship, however, falters and is not well written.

The chapter heads in the book we bought (Scribner, hardbound) were very nice graphics, and the serif font Sabon is greatly pleasing - appropriate for a book about a Bookman.

Overall, a fun read, but best obtained from the library, along with Dunning's other seven books. ... Read more