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With a ragtag band of friends and smuggled equipment, Bangs sets out in 1973 to run Ethiopia's untried rivers. But revolution and the tragic death of a friend cause him to quit the country without running the Tekeze, one of Africa's most fearsome tributaries. When he returns to run the virgin river in 1996, the Internet revolution is dawning, and Microsoft (via satellite uplink) and the Turner Corporation (via a ride-along film crew) are among his travel companions. Such fascinating historical contexts might easily have been reduced to Forrest Gump-ish window dressing for Bangs's journeys. Instead, he makes them integral to his story, using anecdotal encounters with Candice Bergen, Haile Selassie, and even Richard (Shaft) Roundtree to gently steep readers in the history of Ethiopia.
As they encounter ecosystems and peoples making first contact with Westerners, Bangs and his companions also explore the ethical and ecological ramifications of adventure travel. But rather than preach a certain course of action, he judiciously presents the various arguments for "conservation" and "progress" and lets readers draw their own conclusions. Though lacking the stylistic verve that Mark Twain or Joseph Conrad bring to the river story, Bangs is clearly a kindred spirit, with lessons well worth pondering and incredible stories to tell. --Andrew Nieland
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