Millard, Candice

PERSONAL: Female.

ADDRESSES: Home—Kansas City, MO. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Doubleday, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Writer. Former writer and editor at National Geographic magazine.

WRITINGS:

River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to periodicals, including National Geographic, New York Times, and Time.

ADAPTATIONS: River of Doubt has been made into an audiobook, Random House Audio, 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: Candice Millard's first book, River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey, recounts an expedition into the Amazon jungles taken by the U.S. President, his son Kermit Roosevelt, and various scientists. Also along was Brazilian Colonel Candido Rondon, who had discovered the source of the River of Doubt in 1909. After losing the presidential race to Woodrow Wilson in 1912, Roosevelt looked towards adventure through the Roosevelt expedition in 1914 to help get over his political defeat. He and his companions encountered more problems than they anticipated coming upon piranha and anaconda, enduring disease, near-starvation, Indian attack, and losing one man to drowning and another to murder. In an interview with Josephine Anna Kaszuba Locke on the BookLoons Web site, Millard noted, "for me, what was most interesting about this expedition was the opportunity to get a very intimate picture of Roosevelt, to see him simply as a man—a leader not on the scale of nations and armies but among this small group of men who are fighting for their lives." Writing in Library Journal, William D. Pederson observed that the author "turns this incredible story into one that easily matches an Indiana Jones screen adventure." In a review for Booklist, Brad Hooper suggested that those who like "American history and travel narratives will take delight in living through these exciting pages."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 2005, Brad Hooper, review of River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey, p. 1987.

Entertainment Weekly, October 21, 2005, Gilbert Cruz, review of River of Doubt, p. 80.

Houston Chronicle, January 20, 2006, Chris Patsilelis, review of River of Doubt.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2005, review of River of Doubt, p. 832.

Library Journal, September 1, 2005, William D. Pederson, review of River of Doubt, p. 160.

New York Times Book Review, October 16, 2005, Bruce Barcott, review of River of Doubt, p. 14.

USA Today, November 3, 2005, Deirdre Donahue, review of River of Doubt, p. 07D.

Time, February 13, 2006, Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo, review of River of Doubt, p. 74.

ONLINE

BookLoons, http://www.bookloons.com/ (April 24, 2006), Josephine Anna Kaszuba Locke, interview with the author.