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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
sad
fast-paced
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, Colonisation
Minor: Homophobia
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
A very tough but very readable account of the grim realities of colonialism in Africa. It is thoroughly researched, with no stone left unturned and no gory detail spared.
‘At the time of the Congo controversy a hundred years ago, the idea of human rights, political, social and economic, was a profound threat to the established order of most countries on earth. It still is today’
‘At the time of the Congo controversy a hundred years ago, the idea of human rights, political, social and economic, was a profound threat to the established order of most countries on earth. It still is today’
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
This book is, quite simply, a masterpiece. Hochschild so expertly tells you the horrors of the colonization of the Congo, which happened just a century ago. Learning about the scramble for Africa has been truly eye opening. The whippings, the severing of hands by Belgian armed forces of both alive and dead Congolese, slave labor, and the looting of villages. It’s startling to think that for nearly two decades, thousands of white people participated in this crime against humanity without anyone raising the alarm, except for a handful of missionaries and the occasional journalist, company worker, and state agent. Even more startling is that this is still a relatively unknown atrocity, our schools don’t teach it and the Royal Museum for Central Africa (based in Belgium) did not even have exhibits covering the crime until 2018. But all in all, this books is so well written. Hochschild uses testimony by Congolese Africans to reveal how horrendous the Congo under Leopold was. Even once the international campaign to get Congo free of King Leopold succeeded, the atrocities continued. And what I love about this book is that while it’s about the Congo, Hochschild makes sure the reader understands that these acts of brutality were not an isolated incident, they were an occurrence across the entire imperialized world. Whether with the Germans in Cameroon, the British in India, or the Americans in the Philippines, colonialism has left its mark. This book conveys a tragic irony throughout, the white man came to “civilize” people they considered savages, but all they did was become savages themselves. The colonized were often miles more humane than the colonizers.
There’s a quote from Stalin that I think aptly describes this book: “one death is a tragedy. A million is a statistic.” 10 million people were killed as a result of King Leopolds rule of the Congo and its impossible to fully grasp the sheer brutality of this rule. But Hochschild does a great job of giving you some insight. Please go read this for yourself.
There’s a quote from Stalin that I think aptly describes this book: “one death is a tragedy. A million is a statistic.” 10 million people were killed as a result of King Leopolds rule of the Congo and its impossible to fully grasp the sheer brutality of this rule. But Hochschild does a great job of giving you some insight. Please go read this for yourself.