'The most original of First World War centenary books; it is a travel narrative of rare resonance and insight' Sunday Times On a summer morning in 1914, a teenage assassin fired the starting gun for modern history. It was a young teenage boy named Gavrilo Princip who fired that fateful shot which killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo and ultimately ignited World War War. A hundred years later, Tim Butcher undertakes an extraordinary journey to uncover the story of this unknown boy who changed our world forever. By retracing Princip's journey from his highland birthplace, through the mythical valleys of Bosnia to the fortress city of Belgrade and ultimately Sarajevo, he illuminates our understanding both of Princip and the places that shaped him while uncovering details about Princip which have eluded historians for more than a century. 'A masterpiece of historical empathy and evocation...This book is a tour de force' Guardian

**THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER** A compulsively readable account of an African country now virtually inaccessible to the outside world and one journalist's daring and adventurous journey. When war correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to cover Africa in 2000 he quickly became obsessed with the idea of recreating H.M. Stanley's famous nineteenth century trans-Africa expedition - but travelling alone. Despite warnings that his plan was 'suicidal', Butcher set out for the Congo's eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots. Making his way in an assortment of vessels including a motorbike and a dugout canoe, helped along by a cast of unlikely characters, he followed in the footsteps of the great Victorian adventurers. Butcher's journey was a remarkable feat, but the story of the Congo, told expertly and vividly in this book, is more remarkable still. 'A masterpiece' John Le Carre 'Extraordinary, audacious, completely enthralling' William Boyd 'A remarkable marriage of travelogue and history, which deserves to make Tim Butcher a star for his prose, as well as his courage' Max Hastings

A compulsively readable account of an African country now virtually inaccessible to the outside world and one journalist's daring and adventurous journey. When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to cover Africa he quickly became obsessed with the idea of recreating H.M. Stanley's famous expedition - but travelling alone. Despite warnings that his plan was 'suicidal', Butcher set out for the Congo's eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots. Making his way in an assortment of vessels including a motorbike and a dugout canoe, helped along by a cast of characters from UN aid workers to a campaigning pygmy, he followed in the footsteps of the great Victorian adventurers. VINTAGE VOYAGES: A world of journeys, from the tallest mountains to the depths of the mind

Of all the anarchic and war-torn African nations, none is more forbidding than Liberia, the land that nurtured child soldiers, the violent trade in "blood diamonds," even ritual murder. Graham Greene, in search of extreme adventure, ventured through its dense jungles to write the travel classic Journey Without Maps; three-quarters of a century later, Tim Butcher decided to follow Greene's footsteps, only to find the path even more ominous and overgrown than in his predecessor's day. Among the devils he encounters are masked sorcerers whose magical powers depend on cannibalism and missionaries long forgotten in the hinterland he traverses. Butcher, a former African correspondent for the London Telegraph and author of Blood River, his best-selling account of a dramatic journey through the Congo, has produced in this thrilling sequel a book that The Independent hails as "fascinating, harrowing, and eventful."

The silence of the jungle is broken only by the ominous sound of drumming. Life on the river is brutal and unknown threats lurk in the darkness. Marlow's mission to captain a steamer upriver into the dense interior leads him into conflict with those who inhabit the forest. But his decision to hunt down the mysterious Mr. Kurtz--an ivory trader who is the subject of sinister rumors--leads him into more than just physical peril. The short story "Youth," in which Marlow tells of his unlucky experience onboard a ship where the cargo caught fire, is also included.