You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
dark
informative
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Colonisation
Moderate: Violence, War
'King Leopold's Ghost' gives haunting insight into Belgium's rule of the Congo and the unrelenting greed for rubber and ivory. Admittedly, parts of the book were slow (heavy content), but the facts and figures Hochschild presents are nothing short of striking.
Points that stuck with me:
- Over 10 million Africans killed under King Leopold's rule. This number and the violence inflicted are akin to the Holocaust.
- Many of the official State archives and Congo State records during King Leopold's rule were deliberately burned in Belgium in 1908. We will never know the true extent of Leopold's violence.
- When the Democratic Republic of Congo gained independence in 1960, there were fewer than thirty African university graduates. There were no Congolese army officers, engineers, agronomists, or physicians. The colony’s administration took few steps toward a Congo run by its own people...of some five thousand management-level positions in the civil service, only three were filled by Africans.
- Today, Congo continues to have a wealth of minerals including gold and cobalt (used to make phones, computers etc). However, the vast majority of this wealth leaves Congo untaxed. An estimated 97% of gold leaves the country without being taxed.
"Dominating part of the city’s skyline is the grandest Congo-financed extravagance of all, the huge Cinquantenaire arch, studded with heroic statuary; it looks like a swollen combination of the Arc de Triomphe and the Brandenburg Gate, with curving wings added. The arch’s massive stone and concrete bulk brings to mind Conrad’s description of the unnamed European capital in Heart of Darkness as “the sepulchral city.” But of the millions of Africans whose labors paid for all this and sent them to sepulchers of unmarked earth, there is no sign. Brussels is not unique. In Berlin, there are no museums or monuments to the slaughtered Hereros, and in Paris and Lisbon no visible reminders of the rubber terror that slashed in half the populations of parts of French and Portuguese Africa. In the American South, there are hundreds of Civil War battle monuments and preserved plantation manor houses for every exhibit that in any way marks the existence of slavery. And yet the world we live in—its divisions and conflicts, its widening gap between rich and poor, its seemingly inexplicable outbursts of violence—is shaped far less by what we celebrate and mythologize than by the painful events we try to forget. Leopold’s Congo is but one of those silences of history. The Congo offers a striking example of the politics of forgetting."
Points that stuck with me:
- Over 10 million Africans killed under King Leopold's rule. This number and the violence inflicted are akin to the Holocaust.
- Many of the official State archives and Congo State records during King Leopold's rule were deliberately burned in Belgium in 1908. We will never know the true extent of Leopold's violence.
- When the Democratic Republic of Congo gained independence in 1960, there were fewer than thirty African university graduates. There were no Congolese army officers, engineers, agronomists, or physicians. The colony’s administration took few steps toward a Congo run by its own people...of some five thousand management-level positions in the civil service, only three were filled by Africans.
- Today, Congo continues to have a wealth of minerals including gold and cobalt (used to make phones, computers etc). However, the vast majority of this wealth leaves Congo untaxed. An estimated 97% of gold leaves the country without being taxed.
"Dominating part of the city’s skyline is the grandest Congo-financed extravagance of all, the huge Cinquantenaire arch, studded with heroic statuary; it looks like a swollen combination of the Arc de Triomphe and the Brandenburg Gate, with curving wings added. The arch’s massive stone and concrete bulk brings to mind Conrad’s description of the unnamed European capital in Heart of Darkness as “the sepulchral city.” But of the millions of Africans whose labors paid for all this and sent them to sepulchers of unmarked earth, there is no sign. Brussels is not unique. In Berlin, there are no museums or monuments to the slaughtered Hereros, and in Paris and Lisbon no visible reminders of the rubber terror that slashed in half the populations of parts of French and Portuguese Africa. In the American South, there are hundreds of Civil War battle monuments and preserved plantation manor houses for every exhibit that in any way marks the existence of slavery. And yet the world we live in—its divisions and conflicts, its widening gap between rich and poor, its seemingly inexplicable outbursts of violence—is shaped far less by what we celebrate and mythologize than by the painful events we try to forget. Leopold’s Congo is but one of those silences of history. The Congo offers a striking example of the politics of forgetting."
Hochschild writes a harrowing take of the rubber industry under Leopold II of Belgium. The author successfully tells this tale from the perspectives of many of the major players involved but leaving out the ones impacted the most which is fitting given the complete lack of empathy the corporations and eventual country of Belgium displayed to the native population during their occupation. The raping and pillaging brought in billions in revenue and cost the lives of upwards of 10 million people. Yet it is hardly discussed in the conversations of other despots like Stalin, Mao, Hitler.
As for the author himself, Hochschild does an admirable job taking on this monumental task. He gives not only great detail but is able to write in a compelling way that makes the reader unable to put the book down (despite the horrid tragedies befalling these poor people). Hochschild is also able to pull back the seemingly pristine veneer of Leopold to expose the disposable underside of one of the greatest murders in human history.
I wish the author had spent more time giving insights into the role of the Belgium government in their culpability (particularly before Leopold sold the territory to them) and I would also have appreciated more views from world leaders (was the US simply ignorant in the beginning or complicit as it seems later on). Lastly although I know the author mentions his own frustrations about this, the lack of perspectives from the Congolese people is truly heart breaking. Despite being effected so significantly, the fact that even in death their voices are silent is sobering.
If you are interested in the history of the Congo, the rise of the rubber industry, or even in a well written compelling story. I would highly recommend this book and am very glad I read it.
As for the author himself, Hochschild does an admirable job taking on this monumental task. He gives not only great detail but is able to write in a compelling way that makes the reader unable to put the book down (despite the horrid tragedies befalling these poor people). Hochschild is also able to pull back the seemingly pristine veneer of Leopold to expose the disposable underside of one of the greatest murders in human history.
I wish the author had spent more time giving insights into the role of the Belgium government in their culpability (particularly before Leopold sold the territory to them) and I would also have appreciated more views from world leaders (was the US simply ignorant in the beginning or complicit as it seems later on). Lastly although I know the author mentions his own frustrations about this, the lack of perspectives from the Congolese people is truly heart breaking. Despite being effected so significantly, the fact that even in death their voices are silent is sobering.
If you are interested in the history of the Congo, the rise of the rubber industry, or even in a well written compelling story. I would highly recommend this book and am very glad I read it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
dark
medium-paced
A must read if you are interested in history - of Africa, Europe, or colonialism.
dark
medium-paced
My first thought when I heard of this book was “since when was Belgium a colonial power in Africa?” It’s no surprise that I should react this way, as it became clearer with every chapter that atrocities like the Belgian occupation of the Congo are too inconvenient to our collective consciousness and are best swept under the rug. The title confused me for some time until near the end it fit perfectly; Leopold’s ghost lives on in our deliberate ignorance of both his crimes and those that continue his legacy to this day around the world. As Hochschild puts it, “the politics of empathy are fickle.”
dark
informative
slow-paced
Some of the language was a little dated but this was a good summary of how the Congo was colonized and the movement against the atrocities occurring there.