In 1887, Henry Stanley set out to rescue Mehemet Emin Pasha, governor of the southern Sudan, from the Islamic jihad. Known as the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, it took three years; thousands of dollars; and the lives of several hundred, if not several thousand people, to rescue Emin Pasha from Equatoria. The expedition shot, burned, and looted its way across Africa. Stanley returned to London and a hero's welcome, but later praise for Stanley was undercut by criticism and controversy about the expedition and about his book, In Darkest Africa. The authors indicate that some likened Stanley's militaristic approach to that of a latter-day conquistador, treating the native people he encountered as so many impediments to be exploited or brushed aside with whatever force was necessary. In the end, London's social and political elite believed Stanley to be a "scruffy little Welsh bastard." Liebowitz and Pearson offer an in-depth and fascinating account of this eminent explorer who, we learn, had his dark side.