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Dark Safari: The Life Behind the Legend of Henry Morton Stanley
He became the greatest explorer of his age, yet when Henry Morton Stanley finally found the object of his first quest, all he could think of to say was “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
This book centres on Stanley, a man who was ‘a bully, a braggart, a hypocrite, and a liar’ and, at his best, was ‘steadfast, brave, enduring, resourceful, and an inspired leader.’
In this engrossing account of Stanley's life, John Bierman follows the path of the abused and abandoned child who, in a turbulent adulthood, became a hero of the Victorian age, discovering the source of the Nile, charting the Congo River, finding the legendary Mountains of the Moon, and claiming the Congo Free State (now DR Congo) for Belgium.
Brimming with the vitality of a Dickens novel, Dark Safari opens a window into both the bright and dark aspects of the Victorian Age.
“This will be the definitive life of Stanley for a long time to come.” – Quill & Quire
John Bierman (1929-2006) led a fascinating life. He was a newspaper reporter, editor, radio correspondent, television ‘fireman’, documentary maker and, finally, an acclaimed historian. Bierman reported for the BBC all around the world, winning plaudits for his coverage of the Bloody Sunday events in Derry/ Londonderry and Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
Endeavour Press is the UK’s leading independent publisher of digital books.
This book centres on Stanley, a man who was ‘a bully, a braggart, a hypocrite, and a liar’ and, at his best, was ‘steadfast, brave, enduring, resourceful, and an inspired leader.’
In this engrossing account of Stanley's life, John Bierman follows the path of the abused and abandoned child who, in a turbulent adulthood, became a hero of the Victorian age, discovering the source of the Nile, charting the Congo River, finding the legendary Mountains of the Moon, and claiming the Congo Free State (now DR Congo) for Belgium.
Brimming with the vitality of a Dickens novel, Dark Safari opens a window into both the bright and dark aspects of the Victorian Age.
“This will be the definitive life of Stanley for a long time to come.” – Quill & Quire
John Bierman (1929-2006) led a fascinating life. He was a newspaper reporter, editor, radio correspondent, television ‘fireman’, documentary maker and, finally, an acclaimed historian. Bierman reported for the BBC all around the world, winning plaudits for his coverage of the Bloody Sunday events in Derry/ Londonderry and Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
Endeavour Press is the UK’s leading independent publisher of digital books.
401 pages, Hardcover
First published November 14, 1990
26 people are currently reading
162 people want to read
About the author
John Bierman
13 books2 followersJohn David Bierman, journalist and author.
John Bierman was one of the last of a generation of buccaneering reporters and writers who pursued successful careers across the media. Newspaper reporter, editor, radio correspondent, television "fireman", documentary maker and, finally, acclaimed historian, Bierman excelled at each, in a working life that reached back to the days of plate cameras and reporters in trilbies.
His big stories as a BBC TV reporter included a 13-minute, mainly ad-libbed, report from Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972 (which won a Cannes TV Festival award), the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. His final incarnation as a historian was pursued in the Mediterranean calm of a Cypriot farmhouse - he liked to describe himself as a "palm-tree man". The military historian Sir John Keegan wrote of Alamein: War Without Hate (2002), which Bierman co-authored with fellow journalist Colin Smith: "Few historians write as fluently as they do; few journalists achieve their standards of accuracy and inclusiveness."
Bierman was born within the sound of Bow Bells in London. His father, an antiques dealer, beat a hasty exit, and his mother, who ran a dress shop, paid attention to her son only when in funds. Largely raised by his grandparents, and evacuated from London during the second world war, he had, therefore, a peripatetic childhood that ideally prepared him for life as a globetrotting reporter. His love of the English language was acquired young. Despite attending 16 schools, he had a sound basic education, and could recite long passages of poetry.
In 1960, Bierman was headhunted by the Aga Khan to found and edit The Nation, in Nairobi. Those four years were among his happiest professionally. A colleague recalls: "John was a great editor - driving, dynamic, young, assured, foul-mouthed, contemptuous of settlers, frightened of nobody, a marvellous design man and an elegant writer." He next moved to the Caribbean as a managing editor.
He returned to England in the mid-1960s just as the BBC was recruiting experienced print journalists to stiffen its staff of largely university graduates - "all rather posh men", according to Mike Sullivan, another of the hard-bitten tribe who joined when Bierman did.
Bierman's breakthrough book was Righteous Gentile: The Story of Raoul Wallenberg (1981), which brought to international attention the then largely neglected story of the Swedish diplomat who rescued Hungarian Jews from the Nazis. Bierman's words are inscribed on Wallenberg's statue in central London: "The 20th century spawned two of history's vilest tyrannies. Raoul Wallenberg outwitted the first but was swallowed up by the second. His triumph over Nazi genocide reminds us that the courageous and committed individual can prevail against even the cruellest state machine. The fate of the six million Jews he was unable to rescue reminds us of the evil to which racist ideas can drive whole nations. Finally, his imprisonment reminds us not only of Soviet brutality but also of the ignorance and indifference which led the free world to abandon him. We must never forget these lessons."
One of Bierman's books - The Heart's Grown Brutal, a thriller set in Northern Ireland - was written under the pseudonym David_Brewster; he was still on the BBC staff and not supposed to moonlight. In all, he published eight books (two written with Smith), continuing to work after a kidney (donated by his son Jonathan) transplant in 2002. Despite a later heart bypass, arthritis and damaged nerves in his neck which made writing torture, he stayed at his keyboard. He told an interviewer: "Working, in the sense of writing books, I shall do until I drop because it is my life."
(source: The Guardian)
John Bierman was one of the last of a generation of buccaneering reporters and writers who pursued successful careers across the media. Newspaper reporter, editor, radio correspondent, television "fireman", documentary maker and, finally, acclaimed historian, Bierman excelled at each, in a working life that reached back to the days of plate cameras and reporters in trilbies.
His big stories as a BBC TV reporter included a 13-minute, mainly ad-libbed, report from Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972 (which won a Cannes TV Festival award), the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. His final incarnation as a historian was pursued in the Mediterranean calm of a Cypriot farmhouse - he liked to describe himself as a "palm-tree man". The military historian Sir John Keegan wrote of Alamein: War Without Hate (2002), which Bierman co-authored with fellow journalist Colin Smith: "Few historians write as fluently as they do; few journalists achieve their standards of accuracy and inclusiveness."
Bierman was born within the sound of Bow Bells in London. His father, an antiques dealer, beat a hasty exit, and his mother, who ran a dress shop, paid attention to her son only when in funds. Largely raised by his grandparents, and evacuated from London during the second world war, he had, therefore, a peripatetic childhood that ideally prepared him for life as a globetrotting reporter. His love of the English language was acquired young. Despite attending 16 schools, he had a sound basic education, and could recite long passages of poetry.
In 1960, Bierman was headhunted by the Aga Khan to found and edit The Nation, in Nairobi. Those four years were among his happiest professionally. A colleague recalls: "John was a great editor - driving, dynamic, young, assured, foul-mouthed, contemptuous of settlers, frightened of nobody, a marvellous design man and an elegant writer." He next moved to the Caribbean as a managing editor.
He returned to England in the mid-1960s just as the BBC was recruiting experienced print journalists to stiffen its staff of largely university graduates - "all rather posh men", according to Mike Sullivan, another of the hard-bitten tribe who joined when Bierman did.
Bierman's breakthrough book was Righteous Gentile: The Story of Raoul Wallenberg (1981), which brought to international attention the then largely neglected story of the Swedish diplomat who rescued Hungarian Jews from the Nazis. Bierman's words are inscribed on Wallenberg's statue in central London: "The 20th century spawned two of history's vilest tyrannies. Raoul Wallenberg outwitted the first but was swallowed up by the second. His triumph over Nazi genocide reminds us that the courageous and committed individual can prevail against even the cruellest state machine. The fate of the six million Jews he was unable to rescue reminds us of the evil to which racist ideas can drive whole nations. Finally, his imprisonment reminds us not only of Soviet brutality but also of the ignorance and indifference which led the free world to abandon him. We must never forget these lessons."
One of Bierman's books - The Heart's Grown Brutal, a thriller set in Northern Ireland - was written under the pseudonym David_Brewster; he was still on the BBC staff and not supposed to moonlight. In all, he published eight books (two written with Smith), continuing to work after a kidney (donated by his son Jonathan) transplant in 2002. Despite a later heart bypass, arthritis and damaged nerves in his neck which made writing torture, he stayed at his keyboard. He told an interviewer: "Working, in the sense of writing books, I shall do until I drop because it is my life."
(source: The Guardian)
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 23, 2009
John Bierman, reports Stanley was a consummate liar and that Stanley's autobiography is filled with perversions of reality. Stanley says he found himself in America after deserting England via ship. He was conned into the Confederate army by a southern belle who promised eternal love (Stanley says.) Nonsense, reports Bierman. This was another part of the myth. There is evidence he fought at Shiloh, where he was captured by Union troops, and interned near Chicago. He volunteered to change sides, was accepted, only to be released after 6 weeks, following a severe attack of dysentery. He finally got work as a newspaperman, and in typical British fashion (see Huntford's Scott and Amundsen or the comments about John Franklin below), struck out for Africa knowing nothing about it. Ostensibly, his mission was to find David Livingstone, who had been incommunicado in central Africa for several years.
A harsh taskmaster, Stanley would round up deserters from his expedition and tie them together. On one occasion he was forced to quell a mutiny with a shotgun.
When he finally found Livingstone, the famous phrase "Dr. Livingstone, I presume," brought him both fame and ridicule. Asked in later years if he had indeed said the famous line, he replied he could not think of anything else to say. Livingstone was resupplied, and after exploring Lake Tanganyika together, Stanley returned to Zanzibar. The expedition provided the credibility for him to become war correspondent for numerous British colonial expeditions, where he learned to hate the supercilious manner of British officers who were loath to stoop beneath themselves (a criticism leveled at Franklin and Scott as well).
Following the death of Livingstone, who had become almost a father figure to him, Stanley decided to become an explorer and adventurer. (Just like that.) Stanley was the first to cross Africa (in 1874-1877) discovering Lake Victoria in the process. (I know, I know, the Africans were there first.) The journey took 103 days, and half his party was lost due to disease, hostile natives (who had every reason to be hostile given the depredations of the Arab slave traders), and desertion. Their trip around the lake by boat took 57 days but provided valuable information.
On another expedition several years later, he followed the length of the Congo River from its source. Stanley's last expedition was in concert with King Leopold II, the conniving, guileful, aristocratic leader of Belgium. Ostensibly, the trip was to found a "Congo Free State" to benefit Africa; in reality, Leopold was mostly interested in ivory.
The book documents enormous misery caused by white colonization and the Arab slave trade. Entire regions were devastated, crops destroyed, families torn asunder. The only good thing that can be said of European colonization was that it essentially drove out the slave trade. Some have suggested that had the slave trade been allowed to continue, Africa would have been depopulated within a generation or two. Of course, Leopold and his contemporaries needed the indigenous population to assist in raping the land. Before international pressure forced an end to the predatory practices, companies chartered in the Congo Free State had killed over 3,000,000 natives.
The effect of Africa on the white man became legendary. Although Stanley himself never succumbed to "the horror," officers in his rear guard did, and great controversy arose following their return to England about the "unspeakable" acts they participated in or allowed to happen. In fact, some authorities consider several of Stanley's officers as candidates for the prototype of Kurtz in Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Conrad was in command of a Congo riverboat when the controversy about Stanley's men broke.
A harsh taskmaster, Stanley would round up deserters from his expedition and tie them together. On one occasion he was forced to quell a mutiny with a shotgun.
When he finally found Livingstone, the famous phrase "Dr. Livingstone, I presume," brought him both fame and ridicule. Asked in later years if he had indeed said the famous line, he replied he could not think of anything else to say. Livingstone was resupplied, and after exploring Lake Tanganyika together, Stanley returned to Zanzibar. The expedition provided the credibility for him to become war correspondent for numerous British colonial expeditions, where he learned to hate the supercilious manner of British officers who were loath to stoop beneath themselves (a criticism leveled at Franklin and Scott as well).
Following the death of Livingstone, who had become almost a father figure to him, Stanley decided to become an explorer and adventurer. (Just like that.) Stanley was the first to cross Africa (in 1874-1877) discovering Lake Victoria in the process. (I know, I know, the Africans were there first.) The journey took 103 days, and half his party was lost due to disease, hostile natives (who had every reason to be hostile given the depredations of the Arab slave traders), and desertion. Their trip around the lake by boat took 57 days but provided valuable information.
On another expedition several years later, he followed the length of the Congo River from its source. Stanley's last expedition was in concert with King Leopold II, the conniving, guileful, aristocratic leader of Belgium. Ostensibly, the trip was to found a "Congo Free State" to benefit Africa; in reality, Leopold was mostly interested in ivory.
The book documents enormous misery caused by white colonization and the Arab slave trade. Entire regions were devastated, crops destroyed, families torn asunder. The only good thing that can be said of European colonization was that it essentially drove out the slave trade. Some have suggested that had the slave trade been allowed to continue, Africa would have been depopulated within a generation or two. Of course, Leopold and his contemporaries needed the indigenous population to assist in raping the land. Before international pressure forced an end to the predatory practices, companies chartered in the Congo Free State had killed over 3,000,000 natives.
The effect of Africa on the white man became legendary. Although Stanley himself never succumbed to "the horror," officers in his rear guard did, and great controversy arose following their return to England about the "unspeakable" acts they participated in or allowed to happen. In fact, some authorities consider several of Stanley's officers as candidates for the prototype of Kurtz in Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Conrad was in command of a Congo riverboat when the controversy about Stanley's men broke.
May 27, 2021
I have been on a reading kick recently with books about African exploration. This book, Dark Safari has been on my shelves since it was originally published in 1990...I remember obtaining it through the History Book Club at that time. Finally got around to reading it after reading some other books about Africa including
Into Africa
which detailed Henry Morton Stanley's search to find Livingstone and
Blood River
about a modern day journey to duplicate Stanley's journey on the Congo River. Dark Safari is more of a general overall biography of Stanley and includes not only his quest to find Livingstone but also his subsequent explorations in Africa including his navigation and charting of the Congo River, his work to complete Livingstone's quest to find the source of the Nile, his work for King Leopold of Belgium to establish the Congo Free State, and his expedition to rescue Emin Pasha, governor of the Sudan's Equatorial Province who was standing against the Mahdi Mohammed Ahmed, the Ayatollah Khomeini of the time. Stanley endured many perilous circumstances in these exploits including malaria and other diseases, warring natives, cannibals, treacherous rivers and swamps, and nearly impassable jungles. Many of his crew died along the way or were subjected to horrors and starvation. One of his officers actually witnessed the killing of a young native girl who was then cut apart and eaten by cannibals. Many other atrocities also occurred including beatings and killings of the African porters by some of Stanley's men who were left behind at one point. These experiences as revealed upon Stanley’s return were used as the basis for Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. “The horror, the horror!”
Stanley was far from being a perfect man. He often exaggerated his life and experiences in his books and other written accounts. He was harsh to his men who went with him on his expeditions. He was very shy around women and may have had a hard time communicating with them. He was jilted more than once by women who had promised to marry him. He was instrumental in establishing the Belgian Congo for King Leopold who exploited native workers and had over 3 million of them killed. But to the Victorians, he was the ultimate adventurer as he extended his conquest of the natural world. This was a very encompassing biography of Stanley and provides a lot of historical information from his young days as an outcast in Wales, to his time in the American West and the Civil War, to his exploits in Africa. Very engrossing reading.
Stanley was far from being a perfect man. He often exaggerated his life and experiences in his books and other written accounts. He was harsh to his men who went with him on his expeditions. He was very shy around women and may have had a hard time communicating with them. He was jilted more than once by women who had promised to marry him. He was instrumental in establishing the Belgian Congo for King Leopold who exploited native workers and had over 3 million of them killed. But to the Victorians, he was the ultimate adventurer as he extended his conquest of the natural world. This was a very encompassing biography of Stanley and provides a lot of historical information from his young days as an outcast in Wales, to his time in the American West and the Civil War, to his exploits in Africa. Very engrossing reading.
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October 21, 2023A fascinating account of the colonial endeavours in Africa at the turn of the last century and the part that Henry Morton Stanley played during that time.
November 19, 2025
Excellent insight into an interesting and flawed character. Enthralling from start to finish. Would recommend to anyone.
April 5, 2010
This is an interesting and readable biography of a major figure in the European exploration and colonization of Africa. The author is more kind to Stanley than some;since Bierman adamantly agrees that Stanley was a habitual, probably pathological liar, it seems a little questionable to readily accept Stanley's reports of his behaviour and motives some of the time, when we know they aren't true most of the time. But overall, lively and accurate writing, backed up by good research with documentation.
September 4, 2012
I just started reading this biography of a complicted man and his adventuresome and fictious life
as the African explorer who went in search of Dr. Livingston..not that the man was lost.
I hate the way the author has written this book! Everything thing he says about STanley (not his real name) is torn apart on a personal level. He makes him out to be a ambitous liar, a thief, a sadistic murderer, a media hound and woman hater. Maybe he was? I'd like to read another version of Stanley' biography.
as the African explorer who went in search of Dr. Livingston..not that the man was lost.
I hate the way the author has written this book! Everything thing he says about STanley (not his real name) is torn apart on a personal level. He makes him out to be a ambitous liar, a thief, a sadistic murderer, a media hound and woman hater. Maybe he was? I'd like to read another version of Stanley' biography.
May 19, 2013
John Bierman's biography of Henry Morton Stanley goes beyond the obligatory, "Doctor Livingstone, I presume". He gives us a pretty decent insight into the 'man' who was the epitome of the Victorian explorer, eclipsing even the likes of Burton, Speke and Carter. A good bit of the book dels with his activities in the Congo on behalf of King Leopold II - a portion of his life that often receives short shrift. Not a great deal of new information, but what is there is well done.
March 10, 2013
Well-told and highly educational retelling of an amazing life. I felt that the author was fair in his assessments, criticizing Stanley when merited while acknowledging his positive attributes. The writing is not at all dry and even induces laughs on occasion. Unfortunately, however, Stanley's final African expedition seemed interminable, so my interest flagged a bit toward the end of the book.
October 23, 2012
Haven't read an adult biography in a long time, but this one caught my eye when returned awhile back. Very glad I read it as I learned so much about Henry Morton Stanley and the early exploration AND exploitation of Africa during the 1800's.
May 15, 2010
well of course stanly was a pathological liar with an inferiority complex. Im glad someone came out with it.
August 3, 2011
Good attention to details and an interesting journey through Stanley's papers and expeditions make this book one of those I enjoyed reading about a long already extinct era.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews