A Question of Latitude

Everett is a young journalist whose name has become synonymous with honest, hard‑hitting exposés. Raised in a Boston household that prized truth over compromise, he has spent his career tearing into graft from Tammany Hall to corrupt trusts, earning the grudging respect of both editors and the very men he attacks. His integrity and the financial backing of a well‑offered family make him a “safe” muckraker—unflinching, yet never sensationalist.

Now the newspaper sends him to the Congo, a continent he has never seen, to investigate the notorious exploitation under King Leopold’s rule. Boarding a steamer filled with Belgian officials and other colonial agents, Everett is confronted with a world of secretive hierarchies and uneasy alliances. His confidence that the same tactics that worked at home will expose the jungle’s abuses sets the stage for a clash between idealism and the harsh realities of imperial ambition.