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King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild

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King Leopold's Ghost

A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa

Adam Hochschild

HarperCollins · Print & ebook · March 3, 2020

Reading lane: Central African History

The 25th Anniversary Edition, with a foreword by Barbara Kingsolver "An enthralling story . . .

At a Glance

Why This Clicks

Moral Reckoning

A clear, grim historical narrative with the force of a well-told indictment.

Come here for

  • colonial power, greed, and terror
  • Adam Hochschild’s lucid moral history

Expect

  • a sustained narrative read
  • insight with momentum

Book Details

Authors
Adam Hochschild
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published
March 3, 2020
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
Central African History · East African History
Reading lane
Central African History

Affinity

Publisher Categories

  • Lives in History

  • Military Lives

  • African History

  • Central African History

Show all 8 publisher categories
  • Military History

  • World History

  • 17th-Century History

  • 19th-Century History

About This Book

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 Review A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist * A New York Times Notable Book In the late nineteenth century, as the European powers were carv...

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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 Review A 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.

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