Hearts of Darkness: The European Exploration of Africa

McLynn ( France and the Jacobite Rising of 1745 ) takes an intriguing tack by offering a thematic, comparative account of African exploration during the Victorian era. In sturdy, confident prose, he first sketches the paths of several explorers--Henry Morton Stanley, David Livingstone, Samuel Baker et al.--whom he dubs ``the handmaidens of imperialism.'' Then he moves, more interestingly, to fair-minded analyses of issues like animal conservation, finding ``a very clear inverse relationship between intellectual caliber of explorers and enthusiasm for the hunting of big game.'' While the Europeans brought disease, he notes that epidemics like smallpox and the plague had in fact previously ravaged the continent. He distinguishes thoughtfully between the explorers' impact on African society and their reputations back home. Concluding with some psychologizing, McLynn suggests that his subjects sought Africa as a reaction to 19th-century industrialization and urbanization. Illustrated. (May)