New York Times bestselling author Candice Millard joins us on the front porch in advance of her presentation as speaker for the 27th annual Nebraska Governor’s Lecture in the Humanities on September 28, 2022. Candice tells us she loves to read and before she commits to a story, she wants to have many and various primary information sources. She also wants to be deeply interested in the story because her books take about five years to write. She explains that she doesn’t write cradle to grave biographies, but instead is looking for stories that are unknown today and illuminate, in new ways, what we know about a well-known person. She is especially interested in the period where a celebrated individual struggles, because that is where we see that person’s true character. We learn that Roosevelt’s pattern of challenging himself physically became evident as a college student who, when his father died, spent months in the then wilderness of Maine. When he lost his beloved mother and young wife the same night, he traveled to the Badlands for a year. After his two terms as president, he and his son traveled to Africa. The Amazon trip came on the heels of his disastrous run for president in 1912. Linny especially loved hearing what happened to the character following the expedition. Candice tells us, as a reader, she wants to know what happens, so she writes what she would like to know. Candice reads a lot of non-fiction by authors she admires, such as Erik Larson, Lauren Hillenbrand, Doris Kearns Goodwin, David Grann. She also enjoys fiction authors such as Ann Cleeves and Louise Penny. Recently, she has found her way back to poetry. She counsels people who say they don’t like history should try narrative non-fiction and find the writer who speaks to them. Nancy talks about good narrative nonfiction having, like good fiction, an underlying theme. Candice agrees with Nancy’s assessment that love and redemption are among the important themes in The River of Doubt. Linda talks about the casual imperialism demonstrated by this expedition of American explorers. Candice tells us she found Roosevelt’s respect for Colonel Rondon to be a sign that Roosevelt was learning and growing as a person. She also points out that the camaradas loved Roosevelt because he was so collegial and gave many of his rations to these men because of his respect for their skill and hard work. Candice tells her love of contextual information and research came from her years of working at National Geographic. In The River of Doubt, evolution and national selection because important components in understanding how, in the richest ecosystem in the world, the expedition’s members were starving. Candice tells us she finds first-hand experience as invaluable. She, in fact, took a trip to the River of Doubt that remains today very much as remote as it was at the time of Roosevelt’s expedition. Candice’s was the first book that names the indigenous tribe that trailed Roosevelt and then met with the Cinta Larga Indians to learn their history remembers Roosevelt’s expedition. They told her why they chose to not attack the expedition. Candice gives us a sneak peek about what she hopes to discuss at the 27th annual Governor’s Lecture in the Humanities. She talks about how history can help us navigate our future. Candice tells us her next book, contract pending, will likely feature a woman as the principal character. She hasn’t written about a woman in the past because, although women are obviously important in many historical events, they are often not written about. We discuss how helpful it was that Candice included about 50 pages of research notes that help readers identify the source of Candice’s narrative.