King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa "An enthralling story . . . A work of history that reads like a novel." — Christian Science Monitor “As Hochschild’s brilliant book demonstrates, the great Congo scandal prefigured our own times . . . This book must be read and reread.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review In the late nineteenth century, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium carried out a brutal plundering of the territory surrounding the Congo River. Ultimately slashing the area’s population by ten million, he still managed to shrewdly cultivate his reputation as a great humanitarian. A tale far richer than any novelist could invent, King Leopold’s Ghost is the horrifying account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions. It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who defied Leopold: African rebel leaders who fought against hopeless odds and a brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure but unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust and participants in the twentieth century’s first great human rights movement. A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist A New York Times Notable Book |
Other editions - View all
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa Adam Hochschild No preview available - 2019 |
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Adam Hochschild No preview available - 1999 |
Common terms and phrases
Affonso African Mail American began Belgian Belgium Boma British Brussels Casement chicotte chief colony Congo reform Congo Reform Association Congo River Congolese Conrad consul death diary E. D. Morel England Europe European expedition explorer Force Publique forced labor Foreign francs French hands head Heart of Darkness Henry Morton Stanley hundred ivory Joseph Conrad Kasai Kasai River killed King Leopold king’s Kongo Kowalsky Kuba Kurtz Laeken land Lapsley later Léon Leopold’s Congo Leopoldville letters living London Marchal Matadi McLynn military million minister mission missionaries months natives never newspaper porters Portuguese Presbyterian president quoted in Reid railway rebels regime Roger Casement Royal rubber Sanford sent Shanu Sheppard ship slave trade soldiers Stanley Pool Stanley’s station steamboat Stengers story territory thousand tion took turned village William Sheppard Williams women wrote York young
Bibliographic information
| Title | King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa |
| Author | Adam Hochschild |
| Publisher | HarperCollins, 1999 |
| ISBN | 0547525737, 9780547525730 |
| Length | 416 pages |
| Subjects | › › › History / Africa / Central History / Africa / General History / Europe / Benelux Countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) History / Modern / 19th Century History / Modern / 20th Century / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |