Despite the rather horrible subject matter I found this an enjoyable read. Hochschild has obviously done extensive research but presents it in an easily readable style. He gives us a good picture of colonial Africa, specifically the Congo but probably applicable in general, not just to Africa, but a lot of the colonial territories. I think the most poignant part of the book is the photographs of people with hands cut off as punishment! Frightening, but probably still possible in some parts of the world today. We are not very far advanced from this mentality yet. ( )

A must read! I have no idea how this potion of history can be so overlooked!. It is terrible to see how human beings treat one another and what individuals are capable of. This is a must read if only for the fact that this atrocity must never be commited again. No human life is worth more than another, whatever the financial gains may be. ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1347740...

More or less by coincidence, this is the second book about Congo that I have read this month. This is the story of an earlier era, of the awful exploitation, rape and murder of vast numbers of Africans under the personal supervision of Leopold II, King of the Belgians. Hochschild admits that precise figures are difficult to establish with confidence, but it seems pretty clear that ten million people, half of the population, were killed by Leopold's regime. He got away with it by a cunning combination of concealment of the amount of wealth he was extracting for his own private hoard, wishful thinking from the white world about the heroic civilising mission of European colonialism, and the conspiratorial silence of the officials involved. For any European, and particularly for us Belgians (as I have now been for a bit over a year), it is essential reading as a reminder of the atrocities of our shared past with Africa.

Hochschild's subtitle is 'A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa'. The heroism described is mostly that of the few investigators who dared to tell the truth of the mutilations, murders and slavery that characterised Leopold's Congo, the likes of E.D. Morel and Roger Casement. Hochschild regrets that there are very few accounts available from the African perspective. Conrad's Heart of Darkness is about the destructive moral effect of the Congo experience on Europeans like Kurtz; the Africans in the story do not speak, and they were rarely allowed to tell their story in real life either.

My office is a stone's throw from the Parc du Cinquantenaire / Jubelpark, created in the suburb beyond Etterbeek by Leopold II from his vast Congolese profits. It contains a rather disturbing monument to the Congo enterprise, as well as the pretentious archway which frames the end of the Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat. A favourite excursion for the children is to the Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren, where the stuffed animals are cute but the historical record is, in more than one sense of the word, whitewashed. As Hochschild points out, the legacy of the colonial enterprise is visible in the streets of Belgium today, if you know where to look, or indeed if you just look with your eyes open. ( )

I started the book but my brilliant daughter will have to give me a thumb nail sketch when she has time.

An incredible expose of colonial practices that gives background to the current situation in Democratic Republic of Congo, it is also compelling read. ( )

An amazing, well-researched, informative book. My brother went to the Congo a few years ago to develop more micro-finance in the area, and some of the stories he told while there make so much more sense now--i.e. the strained relationship between blacks and whites, the current corruption in their government, the guerilla warfare, etc. There's a history of incredible, terrible repression, slavery, slaughter, and abuse that clearly made this country what it is today. Turns the stomach and makes one want to weep at the cruelty of mankind. The story of the people who fought to end this era of human rights abuses might have inspired me to join Amnesty International sometime soon. ( )

This kind of history that is shocking and unforgettable. One of my favorite books of the year. ( )

At the end of the nineteenth century African colonialism was at its height, and no more was this evident than in King Leopold of Belgium’s personal scramble for the area known as the Congo. Adam Hochschild follows the development of the Congo under Leopold and its brutal, ruthless regime against the natives. But in his story of cruelty is also the story of those who opposed and rallied against Leopold.

I was assigned to read this book as a study in colonialism during a first year university history course. I read only about half of it and then stopped; not because of lack of interest, but because exams and other distractions had started to dominate my time more. Two years later I’ve returned to this book and now I feel embarrassed that I ever let it go. It is gripping, meticulously researched, and written more like a novel than an academic text, which makes it easy reading in style at least.

The subject? Not so much. It’s hard to read about such rampant genocide and not feel personally disgusted or moved, which was the case for me. History of African colonization is not a topic that I’m well acquainted with. I don’t think a lot of westerners are acquainted with it. It’s not taught much in schools in any case, and I knew nothing about the Congo prior to this book. Now I feel like I’ve made the first step in knowledge, although I’m sure there’s still a long way to go.

The synopsis of this book calls the opposition to Leopold’s Congo the first human rights movement of the twentieth century. I think this is a vital book for anyone who is interested in the history of human rights campaigns, or anyone in general who wants to know more about the world’s darker, bleaker histories. ( )

read this in college, pretty good, covers history i would have never had any idea about otherwise ( )

An amazingly detailed account of King Leopold's destruction of large swatch of land in central Africa, the murder of its people and the people in Europe and the United States that battled to end it.

The story documents the roughly ten million people who were killed through starvation, murder, disease or infertility caused by the migration of forced labor with heart wrenching detail. Many stories, often given by missionaries working, tell the story of people being shot on sight for not bringing back enough rubber, people being forced in shackles from their villages to work deep into the jungles searching for rubber and villages brought to starvation as they are forced to provide food to gov't or rubber companies workers.

Though it does cover the people of the Congo, the majority of It follows the work of Edmund Morel, a newspaper writer and author of books that published the atrocities perpetrated by Leopold and the concession companies in the Congo, William Sheppard, an American missionary who also wrote about the methods used by the Belgians and Roger Casement, British consul, who witnessed the atrocities and would work with Morel in bringing the events to the Western public.

Hochschild does an amazing job covering this often forgotten moment in colonialism and one of the first battles for human rights in the twentieth century. No wonder this book is referred to by Bryan Mealer and Michela Wrong, both authors on the Congo, as "the definitive account of the rubber atrocities" and as "gripping, impeccably researched... [and] unbeatable.", respectively. ( )

Having only a passing familiarity with the history of the European colonization of sub-Saharan Africa, I must admit to being somewhat shocked at the raw body count associated with Leopold's rape of the Congo. As many have asked, "How could the death of up to 10 million people become nothing more than a footnote to this historical era?"

The subjugation and plundering of large areas of the region was certainly not an activity that began and ended with Leopold, however, the scope of his atrocities coupled with the other aspects of his pathetic life identify him as an utterly miserable excuse for a human being.

That being said, however, it should be noted (as the author does at the end of his work), that in many ways, Leopold was a man of his times. If his body count was higher than that of French, German and English colonies, this was largely due to the fact that the rubber resource was more densely located in his area of control. What matter the body count if the value of the bodies were negligible? Even many of the "heroes" identified in the book, looked with disgust and abhorence at the subjects of Leopold's crimes against humanity.

However, it is these very individuals, who took on at great risk the powers involved in the carnage that make up the story of this period. A willingness to protect the defenseless, at great personal sacrifice and with virtually no hope of either success or reward is what identifies the finest among us. ( )

A very compelling book. The story of how the king of Belgium ended up owning a huge swath of Africa as a private possession. The local people were never considered the owners of their land, or the masters of their own lives. Their possessions, land and animals were taken, their lives were often destroyed, their families were broken up, their bodies tortured, maimed and killed, and their culture was ground into the dust. All this was done in the name of educating them how to work, to be decent, clothes wearing, god-fearing people, but in reality they were made into slaves. The underlying reason was profit, and power for the Europeans.

Leopold managed to keep reformers and even those in his own country from learning the full truth about how the place was run, how much money he extracted, and the cost in lives, and suffering. The sad thing is most didn't care about the suffering of the locals. They were not treated any better in the other colonies, but the Congo is the one that was in the spotlight in the early 1900s.

Belgium was a small country and easier to make an enemy of than say, France, Germany or Great Britain, which also had colonies, with the same driving force.

Many of the documents of the investigations that weren't destroyed by Leopold when he turned the colony over, were hidden away in the Belgium state archives, and access was refused. They have now been released, but only in French. The past has faded away in human memory and even in the history books. Many famous monuments, buildings and parks were purchased with African blood, but there is no mention or knowledge of it.

The horrors of the past have set the patterns for today and the cycle of violence, poverty, terror and theft have continued. Now it is the Africans themselves who are perpetuating it. Though there is still western money and power in the background pulling the strings.

Just a searing tale of how 10 -13 million people in one colony were killed, worked to death, or died of disease and/or starvation. And Africa was full of colonies. ( )

King Leopold’s Ghost is the story of Congo Free State – a colony owned outright not by a European country, but by an individual, King Leopold II of Belgium. The state, an area almost 30 times the size of Belgium, existed for 23 years (1885 – 1908), and was run ruthlessly for profit – mainly from Ivory and rubber.

Congo was “discovered” by the Portuguese in the late 1400’s and became a source of slaves for the slave trading. But, it was not penetrated by Europeans until Henry Morton Stanley began his treks of discovery (leaving a bloody path behind him) in the mid-19th century. At this point King Leopold stepped in and successfully manipulated the creation of the “Free State of Congo” under his personal ownership. In Europe Leopold promoted his mission in the Congo as humanitarian.

But out of direct European sight was a prolonged massacre for profit. This is the world of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Under Leopold, the Congo became basically an enslaved country. The brutality of the forced labor was unrestrained and the stomach turning stories are endless. The black population dropped in half…something like 10 million black Africans died during this during this period. Although the scale is massive, this was not a genocide. The torture and mass death were not an attempt to eradicate any peoples, these things were done for the purposes of financial profit.

Sadly, this episode was not unique in Africa. Similar kinds of things happened in other places under other European states. The Congo was different partly because of it's immense size, but also because it was unique in providing an exposed clear villain - King Leopold II. A strong movement developed to end the Congo Free State in the first decade of the 1900's and the truth of the Congo was partially exposed during Leopold’s lifetime.

Hochschild has written a very detailed and gripping history of the Congo. He captures some of the atmosphere of life in the Congo, and he fleshes out many of the key people involved, especially the madman who was Henry Morton Stanley. Also, his chapter on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness was absolutely fascinating. ( )

Anyone who wants to understand the Congo should read two books, King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild and and Michela Wrong's In The Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz. Together, they explain why the last 100 years of bloody tyranny has laid the groundwork for possibly 100 more.

Hochschild gives us the first half of the century in a grim story told within the larger picture of a world gone mad for colonies. King Leopold II of Belgium, a man whose inferiority complex knows no bottom and whose greed no limits, jumps into the feeding frenzy and comes up gripping the very heart of Africa, the vast area around the Congo River and it's tributaries that would later become the Belgian Congo, then Zaire, and today is the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is the setting for my novel, Heart of Diamonds.

It's easy to focus on the horrors of Leopold's Congo, but there is much more to the story than endless accounts of sadistic whippings and dismemberments, as bestial as they might be. Hochschild tells us, too, how Leopold was able to pull off this massive decades-long crime through manipulation of the media, well-placed bribes and partnerships, and first subversion and then repression of his critics. The holocaust he visited on Congo--as many as 8 million indigenous people were killed--could have been the template for Adolph Hitler's.

There are other striking themes in King Leopold's Ghost. One is how the terror didn't end when the world forced Leopold to turn Congo over to the state of Belgium. It had been his personal possession, not a colony originally--and actually, he sold it to his own subjects in a final act of wringing the last nickel out of his prize. The new "owners" continued many of the gruesome practices Leopold's minions had perfected, continuing to suck the lifeblood out of the colony.

Another powerful theme is how quickly the world turned its back. Less than a century later, thousands of visitors to the extravegent monuments Leopold built see no sign that they are drenched in the blood of millions of Africans. When the colonial era ended, Belgium walked away from the Congo, leaving it with no Congolese engineers, army officers, doctors, or even bureaucrats--of 5,000 civil service positions, only three were filled by Africans.

Michela Wrong picks up the contemporary story of the Congo with In The Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz. Her portrayl of Mobutu Sese Seko and how he lost the country to Laurent Kabila brings the story almost up to the present. ( )

I read this when I happened to be living in Belgium and working in Africa, and when I thought I knew at least a little about both. I found King Leopold's ghost immensely informative, and more than a little shocking. It has haunted me for may years --a compelling read. ( )

This is a searing and and important book, detailing the evil that King Lopold II of Belgium perpatrated to acquire the Congo as his personal fief in the 1880's and how he made much money therefrom while inflicting unbelievable atrociities on the people. I read the edition which was published in 2006, which has an imnformative afterword telling what has happened since the book was first published in 1998. This book for a time did not seem too reviting but as I read it became more attention-holding so that by the time I finished it seemed to me to be a very important and excellent book. ( )

Brutal and fascinating history of Congo. ( )

A journalistic style account of the rape of the Congo under King Leopold III. The most shocking story no one ever told us.
Reading level: medium
Suitable for: over 14 ( )

Hochschild, an award-winning author of history, a journalist, and a Civil Rights worker, describes in gory detail the mass murder in the Congo that took place under the aegis of Belgium’s King Leopold II, mostly between 1890 and 1910. The greed for ivory, land, and rubber was behind the drive by Leopold that is thought to have reduced the population of the Congo by half: an estimated five to ten million lives. This figure does not include the numerous people subjected “merely” to amputation of hands and/or feet, an apparently common punishment meted out to family members of recalcitrant workers. (Cutting off hands was also the practice subsequent to executions to prove one had “not wasted” ammunition on nonhuman targets. Children were often killed with the butt of guns, also to save ammunition.)

Inhabitants were used as porters - taking luggage, wine, and pate inland for the white overseers, and bring back ivory and rubber. They also had to harvest the ivory and rubber and process it prior to transportation. Porters were generally chained together by the neck, so that, for example, if one fell into the Congo while working on a bridge, the whole line would be dragged in too, to a certain death for all of them. Women were imprisoned and chained (and often raped) while the men were out gathering rubber, to ensure their return. Food allotments for workers were not generous, and punishment was meted out with the chicotte, a whip made out of dried hippopotamus hide cut into a sharp-edge strip. Beatings could be fatal. It was also not unusual for whole villages to be burned and their inhabitants executed as ‘examples” to other villages.

The author maintains that Europeans of Leopold’s time thought of Africa “as if it were just a piece of uninhabited real estate to be disposed of by its owner.” But more than that, the black inhabitants were regarded as less than human beings. Hochschild pauses in his tale of horror to ask: “What made it possible for the functionaries in the Congo to so blithely watch the chicotte in action and … deal out pain and death in other ways as well? To begin with, of course, was race. To Europeans, Africans were inferior beings: lazy, uncivilized, little better than animals. … Then, of course, the terror in the Congo was sanctioned by the [white] authorities. For a white man to rebel meant challenging the system that provided your livelihood [as well as a very good livelihood for your superiors. Leopold himself is estimated to have taken some $1.1 billion (in today’s dollars) in profits]. Finally when terror is the unquestioned order of the day, wielding it efficiently is regarded as a manly virtue, the way soldiers value calmness in battle.”

Hochschild reports that a great deal of historical detective work went into the estimation of statistics “about something [officials] considered so negligible as African lives.” On the other hand, as he ruefully observes, much data is in fact available: many officials reported meeting their “death quotas” with enthusiasm. Not all of the population loss was caused by massacre: the author delineates three other closely connected causes of death: starvation, exhaustion, and exposure; disease; and a plummeting birth rate (as a result both of the death of so many men and of the reluctance of women to bring children into their nightmarish world).

While most of the book focuses on the Congo, Hochschild’s last chapter summarizes the situation in some of the other colonial possessions. The French Congo, for instance, has a similar legacy: "In France’s equatorial African territories…the amount of rubber-bearling land was far less than what Leopold controlled, but the rape was just as brutal. Almost all exploitable land was divided among concession companies. Forced labor, hostages, slave chains, starving porters, burned villages, paramilitary company ‘sentries,’ and the chicotte were the order of the day.”

Hochschild also tells the stories of some of those who tried to bring the atrocities to the attention of the public: the tireless white crusader Edmund Dene Morel, black journalist George Washington Williams, black missionary William Sheppard, and the Irish patriot Roger Casement. Casement was hanged by the British for treason in the fight for Irish home-rule. But his self-defense at his trial spoke to the Congo as well as Ireland, and inspired, among others, Jawaharlal Nehru to go on to seek his own nation’s liberation. He said, “Where men must beg with bated breath for leave to subsist in their own land, to think their own thoughts, to sing their own songs, to garner the fruits of their own labours…then surely it is braver, a saner and truer thing, to be a rebel…than tamely to accept it as the natural lot of men.”

Hochschild is to be commended for trying to bring this true horror story back to life. There is still a need to learn from the dangers of power and greed. As he concludes, “At the time of the Congo controversy a hundred years ago, the idea of full human rights, political, social, and economic, was a profound threat to the established order of most countries on earth. It still is today.”

(JAF) ( )

Murder, Greed, Insanity -- the story of one king's quest to build an empire at the expense of the people and land of the Congo. A must-read!
-- Gina

Very readable history of the colonization of the Belgian Congo. Many portraits of villains and heroes; one cannot help but see echoes of the past in the current events of this time. ( )

This is a well-written book that reads easily like a novel. Once I started it I couldn't put it down. But the subject matter is not easy - the systematic atrocities carried out in King Leopold's Congo. I was only a few kilometres from the Congo border whilst reading it, which added to the poignancy. ( )

Belgian Congo ( )

This book written from the archive at Boston University in which you have to wear gloves to read the text, since the books are covered in DDT so the bugs would not eat the pages.

This is the least of these books problems. What is found in their pages is the story that heart of darkness came from. The attrocities done to the people of the Congo for its resources is a chilling tale. The movement by the author of Sherlock Holmes to stop it was succesful in getting the Belgiums out. But the saddest bit is that there were more countries and people waiting in the wings to take up their place. The U.S. built roads through the villages while genocide spread so that we could get our diamonds out. The movie Blood Diamond begins in this book. ( )

Everyone should read this book. It is simply brilliant. King Leopold's Ghost is the best of all Adam's works. Reading this explains the current chaos still reigning in the Democratic Repoblic of Congo/Zaire. ( )