Burton

Richard Burton was a phenomenon, even by the standards of his time. Master swordsman, fluent in two dozen languages, poet, scholar, soldier, archaeologist and anthropologist, he was also the pioneer explorer of East Africa; he discovered Lake Tanganyika and took part in the notorious search for the source of the Nile and the 'Mountains of the Moon'. He travelled extensively in West Africa, the Americas, India, Europe and the Middle East. A translator of immense talent, he produced. English versions of Camoens' Lusiads, the Kama Sutra, and, most famously, The Arabian Nights. As a sexologist he anticipated Freud and Havelock Ellis. In this biography, Frank McLynn draws on material from a wealth of untapped sources. He offers a challenging and original psychological portrait of the public and private Burton, the latter tortured, divided and deeply ambivalent. Not neglected either is Burton's formidable and controversial wife Isabel. The result is a disturbing but compelling portrait of a man many claim to have been the greatest of all the 'Eminent Victorians'.