描述
开 本: 32开纸 张: 胶版纸包 装: 精装是否套装: 否国际标准书号ISBN: 9780553807509
From the acclaimed author of Conquistador comes this thrilling
account of one of history’s greatest adventures of discovery. With
cinematic immediacy and meticulous attention to historical detail,
here is the true story of a legendary sixteenth-century explorer
and his death-defying navigation of the Amazon—river of darkness,
pathway to gold.
In 1541, the brutal conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro and his
well-born lieutenant Francisco Orellana set off from Quito in
search of La Canela, South America’s rumored Land of Cinnamon, and
the fabled El Dorado, “the golden man.” Driving an enormous retinue
of mercenaries, enslaved natives, horses, hunting dogs, and other
animals across the Andes, they watched their proud expedition begin
to disintegrate even before they descended into the nightmarish
jungle, following the course of a powerful river. Soon hopelessly
lost in the swampy labyrinth, their numbers diminishing daily
through disease, starvation, and Indian attacks, Pizarro and
Orellana made a fateful decision to separate. While Pizarro
eventually returned home barefoot and in rags, Orellana and
fifty-seven men, in a few fragile craft, continued downriver into
the unknown reaches of the mighty Amazon, serenaded by native war
drums and the eerie cries of exotic predators. Theirs would be the
greater glory.
Interweaving eyewitness accounts of the quest with newly
uncovered details, Buddy Levy reconstructs the seminal journey that
has electrified adventurers ever since, as Orellana became the
first European to navigate and explore the entire length of the
world’s largest river. Levy gives a long-overdue account of the
native populations—some peaceful and welcoming, offering sustenance
and life-saving guidance, others ferociously hostile, subjecting
the invaders to gauntlets of unremitting attack and intimations of
terrifying rituals. And here is the Amazon itself, a powerful
presence whose every twist and turn held the promise of new wonders
both natural and man-made, as well as the ever-present risk of
death—a river that would hold Orellana in its irresistible embrace
to the end of his life.
Overflowing with violence and beauty, nobility and tragedy, River
of Darkness is both riveting history and a breathtaking adventure
that will sweep readers along on an epic voyage unlike any
other.
Praise for River of Darkness:
”River of Darkness immediately takes its place as the definitive
book on one of the great voyages into the unknown of all time,
Orellana’s accidental first descent of the Amazon. Not only is it a
solid contribution to the scholarly literature on Amazonia, but it
is a riveting and irresistible read, narrative history of a
literary quality rarely encountered that compares with Alan
Moorehead’s great books on the Nile. Bravissimo !” — Alex
Shoumatoff, contributing editor, Vanity Fair; publisher
DispatchesFromTheVanishingworld.com,
and author of In Southern Light, The Rivers Amazon, and The World
is Burning
“In River of Darkness, Buddy Levy proves that the scariest
stories are the true ones. Filled with fascinating details
and the terror that comes with exploring something for the very
first time, this is history coming back to life.”
- Brad Meltzer, Bestselling author of The Book of Fate and The
Inner Circle
“Buddy Levy is one of those rare and gifted authors whose books
are virtual time machines that effortlessly transport us back
through centuries. In River of Darkness, we participate in
one of history’s signal explorations, Francisco Orellana’s descent
of the Amazon River. We see blood, smell smoke, hear screams of joy
and agony. Levy’s impeccably researched book is at once
harrowing adventure and revealing history. Better than any in
recent memory, River of Darkness sheds new light—and reveals the
darkest aspects—of the Conquistadors’ brave and bloody New World
forays.”
-James M. Tabor, Author of Blind Descent: The Quest to
Discover the Deepest Place on Earth.
评论
还没有评论。