King Leopold's Ghost : A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa

In the 1880s, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. Carrying out a genocidal plundering of the Congo, he looted its rubber, brutalized its people, and ultimately slashed its population by ten million—all the while shrewdly cultivating his reputation as a great humanitarian. Heroic efforts to expose these crimes eventually led to the first great human rights movement of the twentieth century, in which everyone from Mark Twain to the Archbishop of Canterbury participated. King Leopold's Ghost is the haunting account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions, a man as cunning, charming, and cruel as any of the great Shakespearean villains. It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who fought Leopold: a brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure and unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust. Adam Hochschild brings this largely untold story alive with the wit and skill of a Barbara Tuchman. Like her, he knows that history often provides a far richer cast of characters than any novelist could invent. Chief among them is Edmund Morel, a young British shipping agent who went on to lead the international crusade against Leopold. Another hero of this tale, the Irish patriot Roger Casement, ended his life on a London gallows. Two courageous black Americans, George Washington Williams and William Sheppard, risked much to bring evidence of the Congo atrocities to the outside world. Sailing into the middle of the story was a young Congo River steamboat officer named Joseph Conrad. And looming above them all, the duplicitous billionaire King Leopold II. With great power and compassion, King Leopold's Ghost will brand the tragedy of the Congo—too long forgotten—onto the conscience of the West. Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Prize for Nonfiction in 1999. In the 1880s, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. Carrying out a genocidal plundering of the Congo, he looted its rubber, brutalized its people, and ultimately slashed its population by ten million -- all the while shrewdly cultivating his reputation as a great humanitarian. Heroic efforts to expose these crimes eventually led to the first great human rights movement of the twentieth century, in which everyone from Mark Twain to the Archbishop of Canterbury participated. King Leopold's Ghost is the account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions, a man as cunning, charming, and cruel as any of the great Shakespearean villains. It is also the portrait of those who fought Leopold: a brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure and unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust. Adam Hochschild brings this story alive. He knows that history often provides a far richer cast of characters than any novelist could invent. Chief among them is Edmund Morel, a young British shipping agent who went on to lead the international crusade against Leopold. Another hero of this tale, the Irish patriot Roger Casement, ended his life on a London gallows. Two courageous black Americans, George Washington Williams and William Sheppard, risked much to bring evidence of the Congo atrocities to the outside world. Sailing into the middle of the story was a young Congo River steamboat officer named Joseph Conrad. And looming above them all, the duplicitous billionaire King Leopold II The 25th Anniversary Edition, with a foreword by Barbara Kingsolver'An enthralling story... A work of history that reads like a novel.'— Christian Science Monitor “As Hochschild's brilliant book demonstrates, the great Congo scandal prefigured our own times... This book must be read and reread.” — Los Angeles Times Book ReviewA National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist • A New York Times Notable Book In the late nineteenth century, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium carried out a brutal plundering of the territory surrounding the Congo River. Ultimately slashing the area's population by ten million, he still managed to shrewdly cultivate his reputation as a great humanitarian. A tale far richer than any novelist could invent, King Leopold's Ghost is the horrifying account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions. It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who defied Leopold: African rebel leaders who fought against hopeless odds and a brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure but unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust and participants in the twentieth century's first great human rights movement. Title Page Front Part I: Walking into Fire 1. "I SHALL NOT GIVE UP THE CHASE" 2. THE FOX CROSSES THE STREAM 3. THE MAGNIFICENT CAKE 4. "THE TREATIES MUST GRANT US EVERYTHING" 5. FROM FLORIDA TO BERLIN 6. UNDER THE YACHT CLUB FLAG 7. THE FIRST HERETIC 8. WHERE THERE AREN'T NO TEN COMMANDMENTS 9. MEETING MR. KURTZ 10. THE WOOD THAT WEEPS 11. A SECRET SOCIETY OF MURDERERS Part II: A King at Bay 12. DAVID AND GOLIATH 13. BREAKING INTO THE THIEVES' KITCHEN 14. TO FLOOD HIS DEEDS WITH DAY 15. A RECKONING 16. "JOURNALISTS WON'T GIVE YOU RECEIPTS" 17. NO MAN IS A STRANGER 18. VICTORY? 19. THE GREAT FORGETTING Back cvr.jpg In the late 1890s Edmund Morel, a shipping company official working in Antwerp, noticed something suspicious. It was enough to set him on an investigation in which he almost single-handedly made the Congo's slave-labour regime and the lives it took into a cause which would unite the world Chronicles the life of King Leopold II of Belgium and discusses how he plundered the Congo, how his people tried to overthrow him, and other related topics