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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
Absolutely brutal but blisteringly good. Hochschild just became an insta-read for me, I think.
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adventurous
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One of the most brutal and systematic crime against humanity in modern history, and one I had literally never heard about before, which is weird for a lot of reasons. One reason is that roughly 10 million Africans of countless tribes under Belgian rule were killed over about 20 years. That doesn't even include how many were maimed or raped. The second reason is that Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is specifically about this. It's not an allegory, which is what I was mostly led to believe in high school and college. It was his lived experience in the territory named the Congo by King Leopold. The third reason is that this was worldwide news for 20 years! It was the first modern international human rights campaign, and I--along with probably many others--had never even heard of it until stumbling across this book.
There are a lot of reasons for this erasure, and most of them are obvious, sadly. The most obvious is that discussing the horrors of Belgian colonialism would draw far too many parallels to British, French, American, Portuguese, Dutch, and German colonialism, but especially British and American, who were the two dominant world powers, with America rising powerfully and consistently through the World Wars which followed shortly after these events.
Economics and conservative politics all blend together to erase this brutal regime from history, and the Belgian state was especially tight-lipped about the horrors.
What's especially interesting about this moment in history is how King Leopold was able to manipulate public perception and the press for so long. He perfected tactics of PR and propaganda like an architect for what most world leaders--from US presidents to popes to autocrats the world over--of the 20th and 21st century would us as a model. The horror he inflicted on the Congo was made possible by the collaboration of industrialists in Europe and the US, by the pope, and by various heads of state who benefited from Leopold's rape of the Congo. Most sinister is how he played on humanitarian concerns of the time and used them as inroads to found his colony. He presented himself as a benevolent ruler against the slave trade, while he designed one of the most vicious slave industries. Like an illusionist, he convinced the world that he was a saint and a hero while he plundered a continent and decimated its people.
The resistance was led by four people. Two were Americans, descended from slaves. One was an Irishman--who became a radical fighting for Irish freedom--and the other was a British journalist. They faced down a King and all the world, really, and documented the atrocities that happened in the Congo. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness played a part in this as well.
What's perhaps strangest is how the British, French, American, and German critics were able to see the obvious horror of Belgian imperialism, while being blind to their own nation's brutal handling of colonies and indigenous peoples. Even the most vocal critics of Leopold's regime in Africa remained proponents of British colonialism till their deaths, some decades later.
But, yes, this is an important and fascinating and terrifying book telling a story I imagine many are ignorant of. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable of this kind of thing, but I really had never even heard of what King Leopold did, even though I've read Heart of Darkness a few times.
Hochschild's writing is fascinating and thrilling, and we learn about the many charlatans, tyrants, and dissidents that make up this history.
Unfortunately, it's told primarily from the European and American perspective, rather than from the perspective of the people who experienced the brutality of the regime. Hochschild discusses why, and if he's to be believed, it has more to do with the near complete erasure of those voices than it does with him ignoring them. He cites this as a weakness to his own book early on in the book. Since, at this point, I don't know how true this is, I'm decided to trust the author, which may be a foolish thing to do. In any case, I'll likely be reading more on this topic in the months ahead.
But, if nothing else, this is a great place to start.
There are a lot of reasons for this erasure, and most of them are obvious, sadly. The most obvious is that discussing the horrors of Belgian colonialism would draw far too many parallels to British, French, American, Portuguese, Dutch, and German colonialism, but especially British and American, who were the two dominant world powers, with America rising powerfully and consistently through the World Wars which followed shortly after these events.
Economics and conservative politics all blend together to erase this brutal regime from history, and the Belgian state was especially tight-lipped about the horrors.
What's especially interesting about this moment in history is how King Leopold was able to manipulate public perception and the press for so long. He perfected tactics of PR and propaganda like an architect for what most world leaders--from US presidents to popes to autocrats the world over--of the 20th and 21st century would us as a model. The horror he inflicted on the Congo was made possible by the collaboration of industrialists in Europe and the US, by the pope, and by various heads of state who benefited from Leopold's rape of the Congo. Most sinister is how he played on humanitarian concerns of the time and used them as inroads to found his colony. He presented himself as a benevolent ruler against the slave trade, while he designed one of the most vicious slave industries. Like an illusionist, he convinced the world that he was a saint and a hero while he plundered a continent and decimated its people.
The resistance was led by four people. Two were Americans, descended from slaves. One was an Irishman--who became a radical fighting for Irish freedom--and the other was a British journalist. They faced down a King and all the world, really, and documented the atrocities that happened in the Congo. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness played a part in this as well.
What's perhaps strangest is how the British, French, American, and German critics were able to see the obvious horror of Belgian imperialism, while being blind to their own nation's brutal handling of colonies and indigenous peoples. Even the most vocal critics of Leopold's regime in Africa remained proponents of British colonialism till their deaths, some decades later.
But, yes, this is an important and fascinating and terrifying book telling a story I imagine many are ignorant of. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable of this kind of thing, but I really had never even heard of what King Leopold did, even though I've read Heart of Darkness a few times.
Hochschild's writing is fascinating and thrilling, and we learn about the many charlatans, tyrants, and dissidents that make up this history.
Unfortunately, it's told primarily from the European and American perspective, rather than from the perspective of the people who experienced the brutality of the regime. Hochschild discusses why, and if he's to be believed, it has more to do with the near complete erasure of those voices than it does with him ignoring them. He cites this as a weakness to his own book early on in the book. Since, at this point, I don't know how true this is, I'm decided to trust the author, which may be a foolish thing to do. In any case, I'll likely be reading more on this topic in the months ahead.
But, if nothing else, this is a great place to start.
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
Very informative but not a feel-good read and as such was a long time to get through. Nothing to do with the author and the work, long in the tooth at some points, but certainly worth the effort
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Essential, necessary reading. Should be taught in every school in every country. Brilliantly written.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
This was one of the most enlightening, but also one of the most difficult, books I have ever read. I was woefully ignorant of the vast majority of the subject matter, having only covered Leopold in passing as I taught middle school world history. I wish I had come to this book sooner. Hochschild did a masterful job interweaving primary sources with his own commentary in order to paint as full a picture as possible of Leopold’s reign of terror over the Congo. I found the biographical information given on Leopold to be some of the book’s strongest parts, as I think understanding Leopold as a man and as a ruler is a necessary foundation for an understanding of why he sought to colonize the Congo. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a history of colonization, Africa, Europe, or just general world history. 4.5 stars.