{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260414T102527Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0358212502?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"0358212502","authors":["Adam Hochschild"],"book_id":"9780358212508","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780358212508","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780358212508.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","description":"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.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780358212508","publication_date":"20200303","publisher":"HarperCollins","slug":"king-leopold-s-ghost","subtitle":"A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa","title":"King Leopold's Ghost"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS001010","confidence_band":"high","label":"Central African History","score":0.8182,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"East African History","score":0.7483,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Southern African History","score":0.7326,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS001010","confidence_band":"high","label":"Central African History","score":0.8182,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"East African History","score":0.7483,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Southern African History","score":0.7326,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"BIO006000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Lives in History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"BIO008000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Military Lives","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001000","confidence_band":"high","label":"African History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001010","confidence_band":"high","label":"Central African History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS027000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Military History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037000","confidence_band":"high","label":"World History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037040","confidence_band":"high","label":"17th-Century History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037060","confidence_band":"high","label":"19th-Century History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Central African History","score":0.8182,"slug":"central-african-history"},{"label":"East African History","score":0.7483,"slug":"east-african-history"},{"label":"Southern African History","score":0.7326,"slug":"southern-african-history"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Central African History","Good for readers interested in death","Good for fans of History"],"related_lists":[{"intro":"","slug":"shelf-his001040-africa-south-general","title":"Africa South General Books","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/lists/shelf-his001040-africa-south-general"}],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Ernesto Che Guevara","Che Guevara Studies Center","Gabriel García Márquez","Aleida Guevara"],"book_id":"9781644210727","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781644210727.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":16.9057,"title":"Congo Diary","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781644210727"},{"authors":["Robert Guest"],"book_id":"9781588342973","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781588342973.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":16.0419,"title":"The Shackled Continent","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781588342973"},{"authors":["Jean Hatzfeld","Linda Coverdale"],"book_id":"9781590512739","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781590512739.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":16.0207,"title":"Life Laid Bare","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781590512739"},{"authors":["John Prendergast","Fidel Bafilemba","Sam Ilus","Ryan Gosling"],"book_id":"9781455584642","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781455584642.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":14.9222,"title":"Congo Stories","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781455584642"},{"authors":["Paul Kenyon"],"book_id":"9781784972141","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781784972141.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":14.8467,"title":"Dictatorland","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781784972141"},{"authors":["Martin Meredith"],"book_id":"9781610390712","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781610390712.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":14.7855,"title":"The Fate of Africa","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781610390712"},{"authors":["Matthias Häussler"],"book_id":"9781805391517","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781805391517.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":14.7122,"title":"The Herero Genocide","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781805391517"},{"authors":["Mahmood Mamdani"],"book_id":"9780674299870","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780674299870.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","score":14.3762,"title":"Slow Poison","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780674299870"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:africa history"],"label":"History","score":0.9238,"slug":"history"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:world history"],"label":"World","score":0.2022,"slug":"world"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:african history"],"label":"African","score":0.1109,"slug":"african"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:leopold congo death toll"],"label":"Death","score":0.0588,"slug":"death"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: History, African, Death.","Reading lane: Central African History and East African History.","Publisher: HarperCollins."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":70023,"goodreads_reviews_count":4849,"quality_score":0.9833}}