The River of Doubt Summary

After Theodore Roosevelt lost the presidential election to Woodrow Wilson he decided to map an almost 1,000-mile-long Amazon tributary with his wife, Kermit and Colonel Cândido Rondon. The source of the river was found by Rondon but it had never been mapped or explored. They took a boat to South America in the fall of 1913. There were many difficulties like rain, hard to maneuver canoes, rapids, waterfalls, little food, disease, murder, and drowning. Theodore and Kermit both got malaria but Theodore got it three months into the trip and was really close to death. He had a fever of 105 and lost 50 pounds. He got so sick that he seriously considered committing suicide by taking a lethal dose of morphine, which was very unlike him. In the end Kermit saved him with his canoe and rope skills. All the men, except three, survived the trip and lived to the river get put on the map of South America. The river was nicknamed Rio Roosevelt and a branch of the river was named Rio Kermit in Kermit’s honor.