- Paperback: 356 pages
- Publisher: Pan; 2 edition (20 Jan 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330441981
- ISBN-13: 978-0330441988
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
141,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #19 in Books > History > Countries & Regions > Africa > 20th Century
- #19 in Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > Slavery
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Years ago, Adam Hochschild came across a reference to the "five to eight million lives" destroyed in the colonial exploitation of the Congo. Startled, he realised that this had been "one of the major killing grounds of modern times. Why were these deaths not mentioned in the standard litany of our century's horrors?" His corrective history makes sobering and gripping reading. In King Leopold of Belgium, who decided to buy himself an empire to compensate for his country's smallness, he portrays a villain of Shakespearian dimensions. Aided by Stanley (of "Mr Livingstone I Presume" fame) the king appropriated a section of central Africa the size of Western Europe as his personal territory. The appalling brutality that ensued, as Europeans plundered the country for rubber and ivory, is vividly captured by Hochschild. He manages to leaven the horror with touches of grotesque humour--for instance, when tricking tribal chiefs into signing away their land for bales of cloth, Stanley would, to impress his dupes, secrete a battery in his pocket with the wires in his palm, so that on shaking hands the chief "was greatly surprised to find his white brother so strong that he nearly knocked him off his feet". Hochschild has something of Simon Schama's gift for populist history; and among other things he provides astonishing background to Joseph Conrad's Congo-set masterpiece, Heart of Darkness. --Adam Roberts
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Giles Foden, The Guardian, 24 April 1999
"As Adam Hochschild tells in his fascinating book about the Congo's terrible encounter with Europe. . . . the creation of Zaire under the dictator Mobutu, the break-up of that country and its renaming Congo, and the civil war that rages there now--all of these can be traced back to Leopold's bloody enterprise."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
ON JANUARY 28, 1841, a quarter-century after Tuckey's failed expedition, the man who would spectacularly accomplish what Tuckey tried to do was born in the small Welsh market town of Denbigh. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
ON JANUARY 28, 1841, a quarter-century after Tuckey's failed expedition, the man who would spectacularly accomplish what Tuckey tried to do was born in the small Welsh market town of Denbigh. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must-read,
By
This review is from: King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa (Paperback)
I came to this book not knowing anything about the colonisation of Congo, nor King Leopold of Belgium, and I left it absolutely astonished and seething with anger. How could such atrocities have happened and been permitted? What's more, how come I was never taught about this at school?This is a no-holds-barred account of the greed and manipulation of one man and how he was personally responsible for the deaths of millions of Congolese. But it's no heavy academic tome. Thankfully Mr. Rochschild's journalistic skills and light touch mean that it reads like a work of fiction. In this way he has made a very difficult and heart-wrenching story greatly accessible, and rightly so. It's a story that needs to be shouted from the rooftops.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Tale of Horror,
By Eartha Josephine (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa (Paperback)
Adam Hochschild has once again produced a book which has been wonderfully researched and crafted. Parts of the book just make one shake one's head in disbelief. It is quite amazing that the Belgian people up until this day refuse to acknowledge and make part of their history the truth of what really happened. This is the 21st century and someone either from the Congo or Belgium needs to give them a very serious wake up call.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Macabre but worth reading,
By
This review is from: King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa (Paperback)
I want to say that I enjoyed this book, but enjoy is not really a word I would use when dealing with such a grim subject. King Leopold III of Belgium decided that to compensate for the fact that his country was so small, he would take a large slice of Africa and use it for his own personal fiefdom. He didn't want to visit it, he didn't especially want to bring religion to the area, he wanted to bleed it dry so he could live in even more splendor than he had grown accustomed to. By setting up several phony organisations and claiming to bring civilisation to the area, Leopold tricked countless people, companies and even entire countries into thinking that he was doing the noble thing and bringing free trade to area. Instead countless millions of African men, woman and children lost their homes, their villages, their hands, their freedom and their lives in the race for ivory and rubber while the white colonists swept up the profits.It's an excellent book and one which goes a long way to explains the Congo's troubles but be warned, it's grim reading. The brutality meted out to the locals and the casual disregard of human life by the White officers is appalling, but it's a subject you can't shirk if you're interested in the history.
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