Picture of author.

Sven Lindqvist (1932–2019)

Author of Exterminate All the Brutes

41+ Works 1,741 Members 38 Reviews 9 Favorited

About the Author

Sven Lindqvist was born in Stockholm, Sweden on March 28, 1932. He wrote for the newspaper Dagens Nyheter before becoming a cultural attaché to the Swedish embassy in Beijing. He received a Ph.D. from Stockholm University in 1966. He wrote more than 30 books including A Proposal, Advertising Is show more Lethal, The Myth of Wu Tao-tzu, The Shadow, Land and Power in South America, Diary of a Lover, Diary of a Married Man, Bench Press, Desert Divers, Exterminate All the Brutes, Terra Nullius: A Journey Through No One's Land, and A History of Bombing. In 2012, he received the Lenin Prize. He died on May 14, 2019 at the age of 87. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Works by Sven Lindqvist

Exterminate All the Brutes (1992) 613 copies
A History of Bombing (1999) 259 copies
Desert Divers (1990) 115 copies
The Myth of Wu Tao-tzu (1967) 96 copies
Bench Press (1988) 53 copies
En älskares dagbok (1981) 41 copies

Associated Works

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1932-04-28
Date of death
2019-05-14
Gender
male
Nationality
Sweden
Birthplace
Stockholm, Sverige
Awards and honors
Ivar Lo-priset (2011)

Members

Reviews

Lindqvist presents a unique study of Europe's dark history in Africa, written both as a travel diary and as a historical examination of European imperialism and racism over the past 2 centuries, and confronts the roots of European genocide.
 
Flagged
LarkinPubs | 13 other reviews | Mar 1, 2023 |
I denna kronologiskt upplagda handbok som spänner över en tidsperiod då rasismen växte till en världsomfattande ideologi berättar Lindqvist motståndarnas historia, från 1750 till förra sekelskiftet: ett tjugotal författare, läkare, forskare och vanliga medmänniskor träder fram och protesterar mot såväl omvälvande historiska händelser som övergrepp i det fördolda.
 
Flagged
CalleFriden | Feb 18, 2023 |
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has Kurtz at his end exclaim “The horror! The horror!” but the real horror is finding out how much of Conrad’s novella is based on real events. Real events that Lundqvist brings to light, lifting his title from Kurtz’s scrawled note on his beloved pamphlet - “Exterminate All The Brutes!”

How does genocide become “to be regarded as the as the inevitable by-product of progress?” (115)

And Lundqvist has certainly heightened my view of multiple H.G. Wells’ works (see notes added to War of the Worlds)

Some reviews point to other atrocities in an attempt to show Lundqvist’s book as one-sided, but many of those examples are internecine or nearly so, not one nation reaching halfway around the globe to subjugate or exterminate another peoples.

I’m not so sure I completely buy into Lundqvist’s wrapping up in stating the Nazis “lebensraum” was their attempt at colonialism. But I do agree with his idea that the Germans got into the colonizing game later than other nations, and his parallel that as such they didn’t get a prime spot at the watering hole like the early arrival animals did.

And I agree with his idea that the Nazis studied how other nations had gone about conducting their genocides to use as a model to cleanse Europe (see notes on Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee). As well as his contention that “We want genocide to have begun and ended with Nazism. That is what is most comforting.”

I also find the current uproar about CRT (critical race theory) curiously interesting as though it’s something new. Read Lundqvist’s book and it’s apparent that much of what CRT speaks to was around a century ago.
… (more)
 
Flagged
jimgosailing | 13 other reviews | Nov 18, 2021 |
Wow, that was unexpected. 100 pages of semi-dream traversing chinese calligraphy, the lure of art, indian democracy, armed afghans and 1940s europe. Ultimately this is an exploration of the reality of the world we live in, and can dangerously lead you into thinking about just how far away from that reality our own everyday lives are.

Borrowed this randomly from the library based on the title. Going to have to buy a copy to re-read now.
 
Flagged
6loss | Nov 7, 2019 |

Lists

Awards

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Statistics

Works
41
Also by
1
Members
1,741
Popularity
#14,771
Rating
4.0
Reviews
38
ISBNs
158
Languages
16
Favorited
9

Charts & Graphs