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uhambe_nami's review
2.0
If you are looking for an honest account of what happened in Congo Free State under the rule of king Leopold II, read [a:Adam Hochschild|15402|Adam Hochschild|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1272979974p2/15402.jpg]'s book instead, read Conan Doyle's [b:The Crime of the Congo|11090584|The Crime of the Congo|Arthur Conan Doyle|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1302688729s/11090584.jpg|1046525], read Twain's [b:King Leopold's Soliloquy|99149|King Leopold's Soliloquy|Mark Twain|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1244474255s/99149.jpg|1979842] with excerpts of the Casement Report. I don't know if Van Reybrouck's version of the history of Congo is deliberately misleading or just naive, but there are many sentences here that made me cringe.
clarareads1000books's review
5.0
Super exhaustive and yet fascinating history book on the Democratic Republic of Congo. Starting from the early colonial period under the rule of king Leopold the II and spanning all the way to 2010, this book makes you experience every era of recent Congolese history. Thanks to Reybrouck's wrting style, where he combines bird-eye-view historical writing with anecdotes from his own travels in the country, and most importantly, countless personal stories from Congolese people he interviewed, you don't get bored or overwhelmed from the sheer amount of information in the book. The personal perspectives on major historical events are a much better way for a reader to recreate and experience this history, rather than general statistics, which can easily have a desensitizing effect.
If there is one thing I learned, it is that Congo has a truly tragic history, with an insurmountable amount of human suffering, and it is only the question if it will ever recover from 200 years of misery. Yet, it is clearly a bustling place full of resourceful people who manage to survive even in terrible conditions. Some aspects that Van Reybrouck touches on seemed very alien or unexpected to me and therefore fascinated me to no end, such as the incredible importance of music as a medium for political and commercial propaganda, the mercantile link that has emerged between Congo and China in the last 20 years, and the fact that tribalism was mostly introduced by the colonials.
I listened to the 25-hour long audiobook recorded by Matthijs Deen (in Dutch) and I believe Deen's narration style is a perfect match for Van Reybrouck's writing. A true recommendation.
If there is one thing I learned, it is that Congo has a truly tragic history, with an insurmountable amount of human suffering, and it is only the question if it will ever recover from 200 years of misery. Yet, it is clearly a bustling place full of resourceful people who manage to survive even in terrible conditions. Some aspects that Van Reybrouck touches on seemed very alien or unexpected to me and therefore fascinated me to no end, such as the incredible importance of music as a medium for political and commercial propaganda, the mercantile link that has emerged between Congo and China in the last 20 years, and the fact that tribalism was mostly introduced by the colonials.
I listened to the 25-hour long audiobook recorded by Matthijs Deen (in Dutch) and I believe Deen's narration style is a perfect match for Van Reybrouck's writing. A true recommendation.
appelsien's review
3.0
Wanneer je de geschiedenis van Congo googelt is dit boek nog steeds de eerste en bijna enige suggestie voor Nederlandstalige lezers. In het jaar dat ik dit boek liet verstoffen op de kast, in 2019 en 2020, kwamen er gelukkig nieuwe "populaire" boeken uit, zoals Koloniaal Congo en Congo 1876-1914. Ik hoop dan ook echt dat we als Belgen binnenkort niet meer als voornaamste geschiedenisboek over Congo een Van Reybrouck in de kast hebben liggen.
Ik ben geen geschiedkundige, dus ik kan niet elke fout uit dit boek halen. Zelf leerde ik ze pas door een bespreking op de universiteit. De reviews van het boek zijn overwegend enorm goed. Dat komt voornamelijk doordat het boek kapstokken biedt voor mensen die, zoals ik, niets van de Congolese geschiedenis ken(d/n)en. Ik moet toegeven dat het mij een tijd later, tijdens mijn eigen onderzoek naar Belgisch Congo, zelfs handige vertrekpunten heeft geboden als beginner. Het boek beschrijft echt een immens lange periode op een zeer toegankelijke manier en haalt ook interessante problematieken over kolonisatie aan.
Als quasi-onwetende lezer merkte zelfs ik dat er op sommige momenten dingen mis zijn aan het verhaal, zoals het door Van Reybrouck wordt voorgesteld. De meest opvallende zijnde de geminimaliseerde rol van België bij de moord op Lumumba en de pure deus ex machina-rol van de Sovjet-Unie en de VS. Opstanden door Congolese rebellen worden steeds met machtige taal beschreven, zeker wanneer het gaat over misdaden tegen eigen bevolking. Het taalgebruik is opvallend heel anders, "neutraler", wanneer het over Belgische misdaden gaat. Het ligt er allemaal vingerdik op en ik hoop echt dat mensen hier meer bij stilstaan. Hoewel Van Reybrouck ook de geschiedenis van Congo voor de Europese aanwezigheid beschrijft, moeten we kritisch blijven denken over wiens geschiedenis we voorgeschoteld krijgen in dit boek. Het gebruik van getuigenissen als bron zie ik zelf als iets waardevol, maar soms strooit Van Reyckbrouck ook iets te veel met namen, tot het overbodige toe én natuurlijk: de betrouwbaarheid ervan is soms twijfelachtig. Het zijn maar korte bedenkingen en ik ben er zeker van dat er zich onder de reviews meer diepgaande kritische besprekingen bevinden.
Ik ben dan ook gestopt toen ik al een deel in de geschiedenis van onafhankelijk Congo zat rond, pagina 400. Ik vroeg me af of ik die nog zou moeten leren kennen door dit boek. 10 jaar na de publicatie van Congo: een geschiedenis ben ik blij dat er nu andere opties zijn, en dat het zelfs niet enkel meer kleppers van boeken hoeven te zijn.
Ik ben geen geschiedkundige, dus ik kan niet elke fout uit dit boek halen. Zelf leerde ik ze pas door een bespreking op de universiteit. De reviews van het boek zijn overwegend enorm goed. Dat komt voornamelijk doordat het boek kapstokken biedt voor mensen die, zoals ik, niets van de Congolese geschiedenis ken(d/n)en. Ik moet toegeven dat het mij een tijd later, tijdens mijn eigen onderzoek naar Belgisch Congo, zelfs handige vertrekpunten heeft geboden als beginner. Het boek beschrijft echt een immens lange periode op een zeer toegankelijke manier en haalt ook interessante problematieken over kolonisatie aan.
Als quasi-onwetende lezer merkte zelfs ik dat er op sommige momenten dingen mis zijn aan het verhaal, zoals het door Van Reybrouck wordt voorgesteld. De meest opvallende zijnde de geminimaliseerde rol van België bij de moord op Lumumba en de pure deus ex machina-rol van de Sovjet-Unie en de VS. Opstanden door Congolese rebellen worden steeds met machtige taal beschreven, zeker wanneer het gaat over misdaden tegen eigen bevolking. Het taalgebruik is opvallend heel anders, "neutraler", wanneer het over Belgische misdaden gaat. Het ligt er allemaal vingerdik op en ik hoop echt dat mensen hier meer bij stilstaan. Hoewel Van Reybrouck ook de geschiedenis van Congo voor de Europese aanwezigheid beschrijft, moeten we kritisch blijven denken over wiens geschiedenis we voorgeschoteld krijgen in dit boek. Het gebruik van getuigenissen als bron zie ik zelf als iets waardevol, maar soms strooit Van Reyckbrouck ook iets te veel met namen, tot het overbodige toe én natuurlijk: de betrouwbaarheid ervan is soms twijfelachtig. Het zijn maar korte bedenkingen en ik ben er zeker van dat er zich onder de reviews meer diepgaande kritische besprekingen bevinden.
Ik ben dan ook gestopt toen ik al een deel in de geschiedenis van onafhankelijk Congo zat rond, pagina 400. Ik vroeg me af of ik die nog zou moeten leren kennen door dit boek. 10 jaar na de publicatie van Congo: een geschiedenis ben ik blij dat er nu andere opties zijn, en dat het zelfs niet enkel meer kleppers van boeken hoeven te zijn.
ccallan's review
4.0
A very readable account of the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from a thousand years ago up to 2010. Van Reybrouck doesn't just run through events, he interviews hundreds of people about their personal experience as far back as the late nineteenth century, supplemented by accounts of people's parents and grandparents. He travels all over the country, talks to everyone from from former Force Publique soldiers to current pop stars, who are like gods in the Congo.
Some of the translations are a bit shaky, and the English version that I read could have used a proofreader. But these are quibbles about a well written book that covers well a country often reported on in clichés.
A sympathetic account of a beautiful country with a tragic history.
Some of the translations are a bit shaky, and the English version that I read could have used a proofreader. But these are quibbles about a well written book that covers well a country often reported on in clichés.
A sympathetic account of a beautiful country with a tragic history.
handuhoupeters's review
5.0
Zou eigenlijk verplichte lectuur moeten zijn. Ik laat dit boek los met een diep gevoel van nederigheid.
jetpackbingo's review against another edition
A bit too complicated and confusingly written for me right now.
mlautchi's review against another edition
‘I was looking for what rarely ends up on the page, because history is so much more than that which is written down.’ (3)
‘… There was another element needed to make colonial fever break out, and that was nationalism. It was the rivalry between European nation-states that caused them, from 1850, to pounce so promptly upon the rest of the world. Patriotism led to a craving for power, and that craving, in turn, to territorial gluttony.’ (37)
‘This is not to say that there had never been tribes – of course thee had, there were major regional differences … and there had even been intertribal wars. But now the differences were being magnified and recorded for all time. It rained stereotypes. The tribes, in fact, were not communities that had been fixed in place for eons, their rigidity only came in the first decades of the twentieth century. More than ever before, people began identifying with one tribe as opposed to the other.’ (115)
‘But, despite all the repressive measures, new messianic religions kept popping up. That stubborn resilience is telling indeed. It comprised, after all, the first structured form of popular protest … show[ing] how many people were longing to set free.’ (153)
‘Operating in the deepest secrecy, Edgar Sengier, then managing director of Union Minière, saw to it that Congo’s uranium reserves did not fall into the wrong hands. Shinkolobowe had the world’s largest confirmed deposit of uranium. When the Nazi threat intensified just before the war, he had 1, 250 metric tons of uranium shipped to New York, then flooded his mines. Only a tiny stock still present in Belgium ever fell into German hands. The potential military application of uranium was still unknown.’ (190)
‘The strategic importance of uranium, however, was a prime reason for America’s special interest in Congo, an interest that started during the war years, became decisive in the years surrounding independence [notably - CIA’s involvement in Lumumba’s death!] and lasted until the end of the Cold War 1990.’ (190-1)
Colonial Drachoussoff working in Congo in his private diary ‘ “Africa is a training ground for the character but also a graveyard for illusions.” ’ (199)
‘ “Colonialism was not only a huge international system, it also consisted of thousands of little humiliations, of telling turns of phrase and subtle facial expressions.” ‘ (244)
Vocabulary
Atavistic: relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral
Heteroclite: abnormal or irregular
‘ “Unlike what most Europeans were willing to admit, [colonized Congolese] had suffered more under the lack of sincere sympathy, respect and love from the colonizers than from any lack of schools, roads and factories.” ‘ (266)
‘Decolonization had begun much too late, independence came too early. Disguised as a reveal, the breakneck emancipation of Congo was a tragedy that could only end in disaster.’ (266)
‘Independence should have been a gift, but it remained an empty promise.’ (279)
“Is it any wonder that this first generation of Congolese politicians had to struggle with democratic principles? Is it strange that they acted more like pretenders to the throne, constantly at each other’s throats, than like elected officials? Among the historical kingdoms of the savannah, succession to the throne had always been marked by a grim power struggle. In 1960 things were no different.’ (283)
‘The state can only become the state when it assumers the monopoly on violence (be that social, tribal or territorial.)’ (287)
‘The May 1968 student movements in Paris, Louvain and Amsterdam so crucial to Europe, seemed like little more than frivolous happening when compared to the dedication and intensity of the Congolese student movement.’ (342)
‘In short, Mobuto made good on promises that independence had awakened but been unable to keep.’ (345)
‘Government funding for health care and education was reduced … the charts didn’t show it, but it was the poorest of the poor who paid most dearly for IMF’s well intentioned measures, while the international funding kept Mobutu firmly in the saddle.’ (379)
‘[Mobutu’s] uniform cap … [read] “Paix Justice Travail” even though his country offered no peace, no justice and no work.’ (382)
‘70% of the diamonds, 90% of the ivory, tons of cobalt and hectolitres of gasoline crossed the borders unseen [during Mobutu’s dictatorship]. The country was as leaky as a sieve, and the state lost out o n hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue.’ (389-90)
‘In the years 1990-95 [inflation] had risen to an average of 3, 616 % annually.’ (406)
‘Since 1998 at least 3 and perhaps as many as 5 million people have been killed in hostilities in Congo alone, more than in the media saturated conflicts in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq put together.’ (440)
‘In each of its phases the conflict was characterized by the aftershocks of the Rwandan genocide, the weakness of the Congolese state, the military vitality of the new Rwanda, the overpopulation of the area around the Great Lakes, the permeability of former colonial borders, the growth of ethnic tensions due to poverty, the presence of natural riches, the militarization of the informal economy, the world demand for mineral raw materials, the local availability of arms, the impotence of the United Nations and so on and so forth.’ (442)
‘A feeble state with great wealth in its soil, that is asking for trouble.’ (457)
‘Failed nation-states are the success stories of runaway, global neoliberalism.’ (457)
‘Since gaining independence, Congo has never had at its disposal an army comparable in efficiency [to the Force Publique, the colonial army.] For that reason, the army has never been able to fulfil the prime function of statehood, that of a monopoly on violence.’ (470)
‘In addition, the influx of foreign funding created something like “aid addiction”: the Congolese began doubting their ability to manage for themselves.’ (475)
‘Post-materialism is a luxury only the wealthy can afford.’ (491)
‘China has started on a long, structural presence in Africa that will change the face of the world in the years to come.’ (530)
‘Among Western regimes, respect for human rights dates only from the 1990s. And even then…’ (531)
‘What the IMF and the World Bank did not say, however was that they were in a position to do something about that burden … the unfairness of weighing down a newly elected government with the twenty of the year old squander mania of a former dictator dawned only gradually on these institutions … Mimani, a Congolese intellectual, once rightly claimed that the international financial institutions were “holding the national economy hostage.” ‘ (531)
‘The oft praised African solidarity has something touching about it in terms of crisis, but in times of reconstruction it generates an infernal logic: the little bit of money that is available is immediately redistributed. Reinvestment and planning are not highly valued.’ (550)
‘European-American relations may have been the most important intercontinental contacts of the twentieth century, but Sino-African relations will be those of the twenty first.' (551)
‘… There was another element needed to make colonial fever break out, and that was nationalism. It was the rivalry between European nation-states that caused them, from 1850, to pounce so promptly upon the rest of the world. Patriotism led to a craving for power, and that craving, in turn, to territorial gluttony.’ (37)
‘This is not to say that there had never been tribes – of course thee had, there were major regional differences … and there had even been intertribal wars. But now the differences were being magnified and recorded for all time. It rained stereotypes. The tribes, in fact, were not communities that had been fixed in place for eons, their rigidity only came in the first decades of the twentieth century. More than ever before, people began identifying with one tribe as opposed to the other.’ (115)
‘But, despite all the repressive measures, new messianic religions kept popping up. That stubborn resilience is telling indeed. It comprised, after all, the first structured form of popular protest … show[ing] how many people were longing to set free.’ (153)
‘Operating in the deepest secrecy, Edgar Sengier, then managing director of Union Minière, saw to it that Congo’s uranium reserves did not fall into the wrong hands. Shinkolobowe had the world’s largest confirmed deposit of uranium. When the Nazi threat intensified just before the war, he had 1, 250 metric tons of uranium shipped to New York, then flooded his mines. Only a tiny stock still present in Belgium ever fell into German hands. The potential military application of uranium was still unknown.’ (190)
‘The strategic importance of uranium, however, was a prime reason for America’s special interest in Congo, an interest that started during the war years, became decisive in the years surrounding independence [notably - CIA’s involvement in Lumumba’s death!] and lasted until the end of the Cold War 1990.’ (190-1)
Colonial Drachoussoff working in Congo in his private diary ‘ “Africa is a training ground for the character but also a graveyard for illusions.” ’ (199)
‘ “Colonialism was not only a huge international system, it also consisted of thousands of little humiliations, of telling turns of phrase and subtle facial expressions.” ‘ (244)
Vocabulary
Atavistic: relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral
Heteroclite: abnormal or irregular
‘ “Unlike what most Europeans were willing to admit, [colonized Congolese] had suffered more under the lack of sincere sympathy, respect and love from the colonizers than from any lack of schools, roads and factories.” ‘ (266)
‘Decolonization had begun much too late, independence came too early. Disguised as a reveal, the breakneck emancipation of Congo was a tragedy that could only end in disaster.’ (266)
‘Independence should have been a gift, but it remained an empty promise.’ (279)
“Is it any wonder that this first generation of Congolese politicians had to struggle with democratic principles? Is it strange that they acted more like pretenders to the throne, constantly at each other’s throats, than like elected officials? Among the historical kingdoms of the savannah, succession to the throne had always been marked by a grim power struggle. In 1960 things were no different.’ (283)
‘The state can only become the state when it assumers the monopoly on violence (be that social, tribal or territorial.)’ (287)
‘The May 1968 student movements in Paris, Louvain and Amsterdam so crucial to Europe, seemed like little more than frivolous happening when compared to the dedication and intensity of the Congolese student movement.’ (342)
‘In short, Mobuto made good on promises that independence had awakened but been unable to keep.’ (345)
‘Government funding for health care and education was reduced … the charts didn’t show it, but it was the poorest of the poor who paid most dearly for IMF’s well intentioned measures, while the international funding kept Mobutu firmly in the saddle.’ (379)
‘[Mobutu’s] uniform cap … [read] “Paix Justice Travail” even though his country offered no peace, no justice and no work.’ (382)
‘70% of the diamonds, 90% of the ivory, tons of cobalt and hectolitres of gasoline crossed the borders unseen [during Mobutu’s dictatorship]. The country was as leaky as a sieve, and the state lost out o n hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue.’ (389-90)
‘In the years 1990-95 [inflation] had risen to an average of 3, 616 % annually.’ (406)
‘Since 1998 at least 3 and perhaps as many as 5 million people have been killed in hostilities in Congo alone, more than in the media saturated conflicts in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq put together.’ (440)
‘In each of its phases the conflict was characterized by the aftershocks of the Rwandan genocide, the weakness of the Congolese state, the military vitality of the new Rwanda, the overpopulation of the area around the Great Lakes, the permeability of former colonial borders, the growth of ethnic tensions due to poverty, the presence of natural riches, the militarization of the informal economy, the world demand for mineral raw materials, the local availability of arms, the impotence of the United Nations and so on and so forth.’ (442)
‘A feeble state with great wealth in its soil, that is asking for trouble.’ (457)
‘Failed nation-states are the success stories of runaway, global neoliberalism.’ (457)
‘Since gaining independence, Congo has never had at its disposal an army comparable in efficiency [to the Force Publique, the colonial army.] For that reason, the army has never been able to fulfil the prime function of statehood, that of a monopoly on violence.’ (470)
‘In addition, the influx of foreign funding created something like “aid addiction”: the Congolese began doubting their ability to manage for themselves.’ (475)
‘Post-materialism is a luxury only the wealthy can afford.’ (491)
‘China has started on a long, structural presence in Africa that will change the face of the world in the years to come.’ (530)
‘Among Western regimes, respect for human rights dates only from the 1990s. And even then…’ (531)
‘What the IMF and the World Bank did not say, however was that they were in a position to do something about that burden … the unfairness of weighing down a newly elected government with the twenty of the year old squander mania of a former dictator dawned only gradually on these institutions … Mimani, a Congolese intellectual, once rightly claimed that the international financial institutions were “holding the national economy hostage.” ‘ (531)
‘The oft praised African solidarity has something touching about it in terms of crisis, but in times of reconstruction it generates an infernal logic: the little bit of money that is available is immediately redistributed. Reinvestment and planning are not highly valued.’ (550)
‘European-American relations may have been the most important intercontinental contacts of the twentieth century, but Sino-African relations will be those of the twenty first.' (551)