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The Blue Nile | 
 enlarge | Author: Alan Moorehead
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 286768
Media: Paperback
Pages: 368
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.7
ISBN: 0060956402
Dewey Decimal Number: 962
EAN: 9780060956400
ASIN: 0060956402
Publication Date: October 1, 2000
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Light wear, some interior markings. Good reading copy. JW112008 All US orders shipped with delivery confirmation. Thanks!
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Product Description
In the first half of the nineteenth century, only a small handful of Westerners had ventured into the regions watered by the Nile River on its long journey from Lake Tana in Abyssinia to the Mediterranean-lands that had been forgotten since Roman times, or had never been known at all. In The Blue Nile, Alan Moorehead continues the classic, thrilling narration of adventure he began in The White Nile, depicting this exotic place through the lives of four explorers so daring they can be considered among the world's original adventurers -- each acting and reacting in separate expeditions against a bewildering background of slavery and massacre, political upheaval and all-out war.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Companion to WHITE NILE is readable but limited February 27, 2001
Leona Malo (The Golden State)
14 out of 17 found this review helpful
After reading THE WHITE NILE, this companion book seems a bit rushed and not as well researched. Admittedly, there was more to-do over the While Nile than the Blue Nile, but the focus seems to veer from Napoleon to the Mamelukes to the Turks to the Ethiopians to the the Brits. I would have loved more history on Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. Particularly the latter, whose people are both distinct and ancient, yet we hear more about the bloody Brits again. Basically, a good read, but just not enough.
Very interesting background on 19th century Sudan and Ethiopia October 10, 2006
Steven M. Anthony (Arkansas)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
I have read a lot of history on ancient Egypt and was passingly familiar with Napoleon's conquest of Egypt, however, I had absolutely no background on other aspects of 19th century Egypt and neighboring Sudan and Ethiopia.
This book was extremely enlightening with respect to such subjects as Mamaluke rule of Egypt prior to Napoleon's arrival and the subsequent reign of Muhammad Ali. However, by far the most interesting and educational part of the book was the last half which dealt primarily with the reign of Theodore, Emperor of Ethiopia and the British invasion to secure the release of European hostages held by Theodore. Prior to reading this book, I'd never heard of Theodore nor the British invasion of Ethiopia.
Blue Nile is a companion piece to White Nile, the Blue Nile being the Nile tributary which feeds into the river at Khartoum, Sudan having flowed from its source in the Ethiopian highlands. Moorehead does a very good job in describing the various expeditions which sought the source of the Blue Nile as well as the political and social anarchy endemic to the region.
 The Emperor Theodore August 4, 2004
Mary E. Sibley (Carneys Point, NJ USA)
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
The river is 2750 miles long. The source is located in Ethiopia. It is 6000 feet above sea level. Lake Tana is the source of the river. After the Tisisat Falls, the river makes a great gash across the Ethiopian plateau. The Blue Nile joins the White Nile at Khartoum. The Blue Nile brings life down from the mountains to the desert and the delta.
In the 18th century James Bruce declared that he had been to the source of the Blue Nile. He was brave and determined and a dedicated amateur. Bruce thought the Blue Nile was the main stream and the White Nile was a tributary. Affairs in Ethiopia were nightmarish. The Ethiopian warriors were impressed by the power of his rifle. His book appeared in 1790, seventeen years after his expedition.
Bonaparte dreamed of Alexandrian conquests. He felt that as a man of the Mediterranean he understood Islamic rulers. When he decided to take Egypt, the secret of his destination was well-kept. The garrison at Malta was taken in the first assault. At the time Alexandria had been decimated but Cairo was flourishing. Memphis had decayed into nothing. The Mamelukes, a military oligarchy, had been the rulers in fact for the five hundred years before the advent of the French. Alexandria was captured easily and then Cairo was occupied.
Up to 1798 Egyptology did not exist. The French Navy was defeated by Lord Nelson and in 1801 a force of English and Turkish soldiers forced the French to leave Egypt. Almost all of Bonaparte's plans for the westernization of Egypt were eventually carried out. Egypt, the Suadan and Ethiopia were drawn into a new scheme of international politics.
After Waterloo England was the great sea power. Muhammad Ali, the ruler of Egypt, hesitated to go into the Sudan and Ethiopia fearing to antagonize the British. A French traveler, Cailliaud, reported on the ruins at Meroe and his account formed the basis of all subsequent archaeology at the site. Flaubert visited the Upper Nile in 1850 and provided a description of its gaudy squalor and sensual excitement. Luxor became an English watering place.
The politics of Ethiopia became bound up with the politics of its ruler, the Emperor Theodore, a raging reformer and tyrant. When he imprisoned the British consul and the actions of the Queen's representative did not result in the freeing of the consul, an expedition in 1868 was mounted to achieve that objective. The expedition was under the auspices of General Namier and the Indian Army. At a point when the Ethiopians preferred surrender to the superior forces, the Emperor Theodore killed himself. He was buried by Coptic priests. The empire collpsed entirely.
Colonel R.E. Cheesman, age 84, the last of the African explorers appears on the author's acknowledgment page. The book is wonderfully enlightening and compelling.
no title January 22, 2006
C. L Wilson (Elmhurst, Illinois United States)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Totally fascinating book. In particular the saga of the British invasion of Ethiopia merely to rescue a few handfuls of prisoners from the clutches of Theodore, the emperor, would make a terrific movie, but perhaps just now, not too terribly PC, as Theodore does not come off in a very good light (to say the least), and of course he is black. Also charts Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. It is basically a study of the history of the Nile in the 19th century, well only until 1868, when the British left, and a brief epilogue about the Blue Nile in the 20th century until the 70s when the book was revised. The other two expeditions recounted were the one of James Bruce, the Scotsman, and Mohammed Ali's campaigns in the Sudan in the early 1820s. Suberb.
Wonderful history and adventure March 19, 1999
troll38@aol.com (Marysville, Washington)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
This companion volume to The White Nile is another fascinating history of that great river and of the people who were influenced by it. Although these books were best sellers in the early 60s, I'm amazed that they are not now widely read. Read one and you will search out everything else Moorehead has written.
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