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Mentioned as the polar opposite to Heart of Darkness - described as a swashbuckling, optimistic journey into Africa that never questions the right of adventurers to be there

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Referenced in discussion of European romanticization of frontier life and 'big game hunters' - the hosts recall discussing Haggard's portrayal of 'a man of the plains' in a previous episode.

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Referenced when discussing the mysterious location of Ophir, noting 'Ryder Haggard situates it in Africa' in connection with a previous episode on King Solomon's mines.

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Referenced in discussion of 'the fiction of empire, and this obsession with manliness, with proving yourself'

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Discussed as a Victorian imperial fiction classic that influenced Raiders of the Lost Ark and the adventure serial genre that Spielberg drew upon

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Referenced in passing when discussing the Edwardian era's obsession with manliness and brotherhood, noting they had done a previous podcast about this book published about 20 years earlier

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Explicitly mentioned as a book Churchill had read, referenced when discussing his love of imperial adventure stories

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Referenced as an example of earlier colonial adventure novels featuring 'white hunters or white heroes going to remote cities' that modern sensibilities wouldn't permit