Charles W. J. Withers is Professor Emeritus and former Ogilvie Chair of Human Geography at the University of Edinburgh. In 2015 he was appointed the first Geographer Royal for Scotland in 118 years. He is co-editor of Geographies of the Book (2010), co-author of Scotland: Mapping the Nation and co-author of Scotland: Mapping the Islands.
"'Punchy, eloquent, and infused with forensic research ...This book is in all senses a geographical epic' -- Nicholas Crane, writer and presenter, BBC Two’s Coast and author of The Making of the British Landscape 'This deeply researched and sumptuously illustrated book is at once an exciting new biography of Mungo Park, a wide-ranging history of the decades-long efforts by the British to explore the Niger, and an illuminating study of the evolution of geography and cartography as fields of scientific knowledge' -- Dane Kennedy, author of The Last Blank Spaces: Exploring Africa and Australia 'A fascinating and illuminating read' -- Megan Amato * Scottish Field * 'Both an admirable biography of the explorer Mungo Park and also a thoughtful meditation on early British involvement in West Africa' -- Allan Massie * The Scotsman * 'It's always thrilling to stumble across a book that is so well researched and written that as a reader you get the sense it will be the definitive account of the subject it covers for quite some time to come. ""Majestic River"" is one of those books' -- Ken Lussey * Undiscovered Scotland * 'Mungo Park died in 1806 before realising his mission to trace the course of the Niger. The author looks at the life and legacy of this famed explorer' * The Saltire Society *"