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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
Powerful history of exploitation of the Congo Free State. Intensely sad at points.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Murder, Outing, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
If I could give this book more than 5 stars I would. It talked in depth about the people involved in the Congo during the time period and what led them to be associated with it.
Adam Hochschild did a really good job of writing frankly about the horrible things Leopold’s administration did and how they reasoned/justified their actions. He also made sure to heavily feature those who opposed Leopold as well as the Congolese people.
After reading this book, I definitely know a lot more about the Congo’s history, as well as how that history continues to affect the region to this day. If you’re a history buff and/or interested in learning more about the evils of colonization, this book is definitely for you!
Adam Hochschild did a really good job of writing frankly about the horrible things Leopold’s administration did and how they reasoned/justified their actions. He also made sure to heavily feature those who opposed Leopold as well as the Congolese people.
After reading this book, I definitely know a lot more about the Congo’s history, as well as how that history continues to affect the region to this day. If you’re a history buff and/or interested in learning more about the evils of colonization, this book is definitely for you!
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced
This book, and the documentary based on it, are both excellent introductions to the topic of Leopold II and Belgium's rape of the Congo. It is a highly disturbing, heartbreaking story, but it needs to be told. I'm grateful Mr Hochschild tackled this topic for English-language readers and brought it to my attention. It gives a comprehensive overview of the atrocities committed in the Congo, the fight to stop them, and the aftermath. It will probably take the Congo a really long time to recover, if ever it does.
Mr Hochschild covers a wide span of history and personages, but while I do find this an excellent overview, his writing is sometimes hackneyed, tries too hard to draw bigger parallels than he can support and sometimes asks questions or points to mysteries in a way that reminds me of the History channel. This is probably my only real complaint with the book.
Mr Hochschild covers a wide span of history and personages, but while I do find this an excellent overview, his writing is sometimes hackneyed, tries too hard to draw bigger parallels than he can support and sometimes asks questions or points to mysteries in a way that reminds me of the History channel. This is probably my only real complaint with the book.
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Extremely well written overview of King Leopold II of Belgium’s atrocities in Africa in the late 19th centuries.
read this in anticipation of teaching about colonialism for my world history students. I had read sections in college, but wow.
dark
informative
slow-paced
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
A chilling history of the atrocities initiated by 1 man's greed. Also a powerful reminder (not that one was necessary) of how much lies and PR can shift public perception away from the truth.
What surprised me the most wasthat King Leopold's brutal system was not particularly exceptional, and yet it alone drew attention. Other European colonies put very similar forced labor practices in place around the same time (possibly inspired by Congo policies), and/or conducted outright genocide. However, these human rights violations were nearly completely ignored, whereas those same actions, when committed in the Congo, drew ire. Perhaps the only reason such large public opposition to atrocities in the Congo was able to build at all, was that it was an easy target; King Leopold II could easily be cast as a lone bad-actor (rather than implicating colonialism, and therefore every major power in the world), and the country he ruled, Belgium, had little power on the world stage.
The truth seems to be that Britain, France, and Germany were too powerful to oppose, and nationalist pride blinded most from hearing (or conceiving of) any argument that cast one's own nation's colonial expansion as anything other than just. And despite the arduous, and arguably successful, campaign against King Leopold's exploitation of the Congo, the system was left largely intact after the King was given a light scolding and a golden parachute.
The powerful rarely face consequences for their actions, as they have all the tools necessary to squash any angle for retribution.
What surprised me the most was
The truth seems to be that Britain, France, and Germany were too powerful to oppose, and nationalist pride blinded most from hearing (or conceiving of) any argument that cast one's own nation's colonial expansion as anything other than just. And despite the arduous, and arguably successful, campaign against King Leopold's exploitation of the Congo, the system was left largely intact after the King was given a light scolding and a golden parachute.
The powerful rarely face consequences for their actions, as they have all the tools necessary to squash any angle for retribution.