David Livingstone has gone down in history as a fearless explorer & missionary hacking his way through the forests of Africa to bring light to the people
- & also to free them from slavery. But who was he & what was he actually like? He was an extraordinary character" according to biographer Stephen Tomkins "spectacularly bad at personal relationships at least with white people possessed of infinite self-belief courage & restlessness. He was an almost total failure as a missionary & so became an explorer & campaigner against the slave trade hoping to save African lives & souls that way instead. He helped however unwittingly to set the tone & the extent of British involvement in Africa. He was a flawed but indomitable idealist." Fascinating new evidence about Livingstones life & his struggles have come to light in the letters & journals he left behind now accessible to us for the first time through spectral imaging. These form a significant addition to the source material for this excellent biography which provides an honest & balanced account of the real man behind the Victorian icon."