The Longest Walk

by Giuseppe Maniscalco

The story of a man's war-time hike from Ethiopia to South Africa.

191 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

Reviews

[Angelique Pacheco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guiseppe Maniscalco was married to my Grandmother. At the end of the book he mentions her. It's one thing to read a book, but it's another to be related to the character. I loved this book. It has nailbiting action and 'hold your breath' moments! If you can find a copy, Read IT!!!

[Max Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was published in the 70s and is a true story account of a man's trek from Ethiopia to South Africa, avoiding military action, criminals and african wildlife along the way. This paints a pretty positive view of central Africa, with him walking into villages and the chiefs all being very impressed with him, giving him provisions and sending him on his way. Whether that's embellishment by a white hero author or testament to the friendliness of tribal people, it's hard to tell but it didn't read as particularly condescending. I think the most interesting parts of this for me were reading about all the grueling physical discomfort the adventurer had to endure, I'm a big fan of survival-stuff, rather than the interactions with people. It's interesting and including mine there are only two reviews for this one up on Goodreads. I don't read a lot of real-life stuff, and I thought this was going to be in the same vein as the Alvarez exploration journal I read last year, but this one was a bit more rosy cheeked!