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A review by heresthepencil
"Exterminate All the Brutes": One Man's Odyssey Into the Heart of Darkness and the Origins of European Genocide by Sven Lindqvist
dark
informative
reflective
3.5
extremely readable. but also disjointed to the point where some bits (mostly dreams descriptions) seem absolutely unnecessary.
first half, if not more, is heavily focused on conrad's heart of darkness (where the title comes from), on conrad himself and his friendships with other writers, and things he might have read that influenced him. then there's a sudden switch to a focus on theories of "evolution", which is really just a fancy way of saying: the origins of european genocide. a lot of examples of how we used super convoluted ideas to excuse horrible massacres. (and i mean a lot, name after name, sometimes hard to keep track of.) and in the last ten pages the author remembers conrad, and tries to quickly tie it all together.
so it's not a history of european genocide in the sense that it outlines one after another the catastrophes we've caused, but rather an overview of our destroying nations & cultures & peoples. mostly examples most eerily similar to scenes from conrad's book & a look into all the explanations we've come up with for colonialism. with a neverending refrain of "exterminate all the brutes". about lindqvist's own journey into africa we just learn a few details (uncomfortable buses, heat, sand), wierd childhood memories and even weirder dreams.
first half, if not more, is heavily focused on conrad's heart of darkness (where the title comes from), on conrad himself and his friendships with other writers, and things he might have read that influenced him. then there's a sudden switch to a focus on theories of "evolution", which is really just a fancy way of saying: the origins of european genocide. a lot of examples of how we used super convoluted ideas to excuse horrible massacres. (and i mean a lot, name after name, sometimes hard to keep track of.) and in the last ten pages the author remembers conrad, and tries to quickly tie it all together.
so it's not a history of european genocide in the sense that it outlines one after another the catastrophes we've caused, but rather an overview of our destroying nations & cultures & peoples. mostly examples most eerily similar to scenes from conrad's book & a look into all the explanations we've come up with for colonialism. with a neverending refrain of "exterminate all the brutes". about lindqvist's own journey into africa we just learn a few details (uncomfortable buses, heat, sand), wierd childhood memories and even weirder dreams.