Crazy River

Richard Grant, author of the adventure classic God’s Middle Finger, “a reportorial tour de force, filled with characters straight out of a Cormac McCarthy novel”( The New York Times ), takes readers on an unforgettable journey from Zanzibar into the heart of Africa.

No one travels quite like Richard Grant—and, really, no one should. He’s driven to seek danger yet fully willing to admit when he’s afraid; ever alert to the fascinations of the landscapes, cultures, and individuals he encounters; eager to indulge in whatever bad behavior the locals are up to; and compelled to look into the history, politics, and society of every place he goes.

In his new book, Grant travels with present-day explorers, hunters, degenerates, gangsters, and local reporters, documenting life, landscape, and the history of white exploration in East Africa. Beginning in Zanzibar, where a former golf pro introduces him to the island’s underbelly, Grant takes a cargo dhow across the Indian Ocean, following the route of early British explorers Burton and Speake, and heads into the continent. In the company of an eccentric guide, he rafts an uncharted river in Tanzania, trying to avoid hippos, crocodiles, lions, snakes, malaria, and African sleeping sickness. Grant heads up through war-torn Burundi and finishes his journey in the budding dictatorship of Rwanda.

Gripping, illuminating, sometimes harrowing, often humorous, Grant’s new book will thrill his devoted readers and bring him to an even broader audience.