King Leopold's Ghost: A story of greed, terror and heroism Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

King Leopold's Ghost: A story of greed, terror and heroism Book

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 RobertsRead More

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  • Amazon

    A hundred years ago, enlightened people in the western world were outraged by a holocaust in Africa which left millions dead. Conan Doyle wrote a pamphlet on the Congo atrocities which sold 25,000 copies in the first week alone. Yet today not one person in a thousand could say what the fuss was all about, this book tells the story.

  • Play

    This book is the winner of the 1999 duff cooper prize. 'Brilliant .. this book must be read and re-read' - Neal Ascherson. 'A hundred years ago enlightened people in the western world were outraged by a holocaust in Africa which left millions dead. Denunciations thundered from speaker's platforms around the US and Europe. One open letter to "The Times" was signed by 11 peers 19 bishops and 75 MPs. Viscount Grey Britain's foreign secretary declared that no overseas issue had so intensely aroused the British public for 30 years. Conan Doyle wrote a pamphlet on the Congo atrocities which sold 25 000 copies in the first week alone. Yet today not one person in a thousand could say what the fuss was all about unless of course they have read this amazing book.' - Tariq Ali "Financial Times". 'Fascinating ...brilliant and gripping' - "Mail on Sunday". 'An exemplary piece of history writing: urgent vivid and compelling' - "Literary Review".

  • Blackwell

    A riveting and highly readable account of the Congo massacre, peopled by callous monarchs, corrupt adventurers and a handful of genuine heroes. This book is the winner of the 1999 duff cooper prize. 'Brilliant .. this book must be read and re...

  • 0330441981
  • 9780330441988
  • Adam Hochschild
  • 20 January 2006
  • Pan
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 356
  • 2
  • Unabridged
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