A Tragic "Great Forgetting"

"Listen to the yell of Leopold’s ghost Burning in Hell for his hand-maimed host. Hear how the demons chuckle and yell Cutting his hands off, down in Hell." (p. 266)

There has been a a great forgetting of the tragic deaths of millions of Africans just a mere 125 years ago. This well - researched book thoroughly documents the Belgian atrocities in the Congo from 1890 until approximately 1910. ( )

Well researched and very readable. ( )

A terrific, eye opening, horrifying true story of the Belgian King and his colonization of the Congo. Highly recommended. ( )

Before reading this book, my knowledge of African history was scanty. I have read a few books on North Africa, but none on the history of the sub-Saharan continent. Adam Hochschild’s book, King Leopold’s Ghost, proved to be a startling introduction.

First off, the book has a reputation for brutality. Before I began, people warned me to prepare myself. I don’t think anything could prepare someone for the horrors perpetrated on the people native to Africa by the European colonizers. The term “colonize” sounds so innocuous that it masks the violence of the process.

Hochschild highlights King Leopold II, king of the small and relatively new country of Belgium. Leopold’s bottomless well of greed and ruthless ambition caused him to gain control, underhandedly, of the massive area of central Africa called the Congo. He didn’t share this wealth with his country. So, the people of Belgium didn’t even profit from any of his activities using slavery to gain riches from the sale of ivory and rubber at the beginning. This changed after the king died.

To make it clear that terror and exploitation are not unique to Leopold or Belgium, Hochschild talks about violence perpetrated by Africans on other Africans before the Europeans arrived. He also touches on inhumanity demonstrated by other countries worldwide, but primarily by Europeans in their colonization of Africa and theft of its natural resources. He takes pains to discuss the complicity of the United States in similar outrages within its borders.

People have told me that Hochschild cherry-picked his facts and that this book presents an unfair view of the place and the period. I find this difficult to believe. He provides his sources, and the sheer number of damning statistics, facts, and anecdotes cannot be denied. Though the story sickened me, I cannot discount it, and I am glad I read it. We need to know history, no matter how horrible it may have been. Looking at historical darkness in the heart of Africa should prompt us to search for traces of that darkness in ourselves because that’s the only way to ever rid ourselves of it. ( )

An outstanding book that clinically and calmly exposes the outrage of the Belgian King's appalling crimes in colonial Africa.
Along with Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Alice Seeley Harris's photos of severed hands, this book should be required reading for all westerners so we never forget the worst aspects of European colonial history. While not all colonial leaders were as depraved as King Leopold, the colonial era was fundamentally founded on exploitation. The Belgians, in the Congo, merely took that exploitation to an extreme. ( )

Adam Hochschild concentrates on a specific period in Congo’s history in “King Leopold’s Ghost” (1998). After a brief introduction he describes how, thanks to the exploration and the later efforts of Henry Morton Stanley, the Congo became the personal property of the Belgian King – not the Belgian state, but the King, in a time when European powers were actively dividing up the African continent. And how, through forced labour and an incredibly cruel and haphazard system of punishments for the local population, the King managed to extract the riches of his back garden, first ivory and later rubber, for personal account. And how a small group of brave men, led by the Brit Edward Morel, unleashed a worldwide campaign not seen since the anti-slavery campaigns earlier in the 19th Century, to bring an end to this ruthless exploitation.
Hochschild vividly describes the colonial singlemindedness and the associated horrors. But he also demonstrates how difficult it was to get other countries to respond to the allegations, and how the King time and again managed to exonerate himself by claiming the ideological high ground. Hochschild also points out how little the Belgians know about their colonial past, and how defensive they are when confronted. It is only in the last chapter that he remarks that it was easy to single out Belgium at the time, a small and unimportant country, but that exactly the same colonial practices, equally cruel, were committed by all the other powers with colonies in Central Africa. ( )

King Leopold II of Belgium managed to convince the world (for a while) that he was a humanitarian and philanthropist. Meanwhile, he was extracting the riches of the Congo for personal gain and ruthlessly exploiting the Congolese, with the death toll eventually estimated at ten million people. This book provides a history of the Congo from pre-colonial times through Mobutu’s regime. Through the efforts George Washington Williams, Rev. William Sheppard, E.D. Morel, and Roger Casement, the abuses became widely known and Leopold was forced to relinquish control to Belgium. These main paid a high price for their activism in the area of human rights.

“The Congo reform movement had two achievements that lasted far beyond its own time. First…it put a remarkable amount of information on the historical record. And there it remains, despite the strenuous efforts of Leopold and his admirers, then and now, to burn it, to ignore it, to distort it with mythologizing. That record of truth matters, especially for a continent whose history is otherwise so filled with silences. [Second]… among its supporters, it kept alive a tradition, a way of seeing the world, a human capacity for outrage at pain inflicted on another human being, no matter whether that pain is inflicted on someone of another color, in another country, at another end of the earth.”

This book is an engagingly written, logically organized history that provides a revealing analysis of the colonization of the Congo, and the oppression of its inhabitants. Hochschild relates Leopold’s activities in the Congo to the larger picture of other countries’ exploitation of Africa. He also gives the reader a good idea of why this part of history had previously been largely forgotten (or covered up).

This is the type of history book that reads as a story of man’s inhumanity to man. It is meticulously footnoted, and the author has attempted to use primary sources as much as possible. His only regret is that there is such limited source material from the Congolese tribes. The photos are heart-breaking. Highly recommended.
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Though a horrifying history, it's an amazing read. So well researched and very engaging. I'd highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in African history, colonial history and human rights. ( )

A hard but important read. ( )

Well, that was a depressing but very worthwhile read. As with many (even educated) Caucasians, I knew little specific about the horror that was the colonization of Africa. It's something that should be taught but typically isn't.

The reality is sad, painful, and infuriating to read. What’s even more painful to realize is that the genocide of the natives peoples of North America would likely tell a similar tale if chronicled in equal detail. It seems racscism, greed, and cruelty have been the lasting legacy of the "white" race. Reparations alone will not wipe away this horror. Education, apology, and proactive steps to atone for this and avoid future occurrences are minimum starting points.

The author rightly notes the heroic actions of some to end these atrocities. But those efforts, as worthwhile as they were, in no way outweigh the tragic impact of this history. The book left me more than a little cynical about the potential of our species. Left me thinking that fighting for justice is the only human thing we can do. But one must do so knowing full well our actions may never overcome the evil we fight. None-the-less, fight we must.

A book not to be ignored. ( )

I was reading some reviews abouty a month ago about Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and several reviewers mentioned this book. I knew nothing about the history of the Belgian Congo and this book is highly thought of so I decided to give it a go. It's a really good history of King Leopold II and his brutal involvement and treatment in Congo. This book is really well researched, and it also covers direct accounts of normal African's who were involved instead of just scholarly sources. ( )

It is partly thanks to author Adam Hochschild that the world is aware of the tragedy in Congo from the years 1885 to 1908, though "King Leopold's Ghost" covers a bit more than that. Other authors - particularly Jules Marchal - have written about these tragic, inhumane years, but this easy to read book brings this humanitarian and moral catastrophe to the forefront.

In the scramble to colonize and capitalize on the Congo river basin's vast natural resources, King Leopold of Belgium instituted a violent regime that depended on mutilation, forced starvation, slavery, kidnapping, and extreme violence. Hochschild makes the case that this was not a genocide because the goal was not to destroy the entire population. However, I think genocide is an appropriate term - surely the concessionaires hired by Leopold intentionally destroyed entire tribes in the region.

At the time of writing (1999), there was scant information from the Congolese themselves, so the author relies on the biographies of Westerners to tell the story. Henry Morgan Stanley, Roger Casement, E. D. Morel, George Washington Williams, and William Henry Sheppard are all given full, though brief, descriptions of their roles. Other tangential figures like Emin Pasha, Tipu Tip, and David Livingston are also mixed in to add interest. In addition, King Leopold of Belgium and his family are extensively written about, sometimes with a tabloid outlook. These biographies are intertwined with the story of Congo. They inflate the size of the book but they also make it more readable.

At the end of the book, Hochschild connects the Leopold's brutal regime to the country's recent history and current state. It might have been outside the scope of the book, but I think that connection could have been expanded.

I wish the book had more information about the kingdoms and peoples of the Congo river basin. Besides a few missionaries writing journals and letters about the affected people themselves, which he includes, such details are simply not available. Hopefully researchers and historians will be able to uncover stories in the future, though it is doubtful at this point.

Hochschild relies largely on research already conducted by Marchal and gives him rightful credit. References are not given in the text, but there are endnotes to help anyone interested in further research. There is also a good, complete index. ( )

Absolutely incredible. Hochschild does a great job of taking you through the history of the Congo and Belgium's stake in it. It didn't feel quite like one of those huge, game-changing history books (I would've liked more connections between the past and present-day Congo) but it was still really interesting and really good. ( )

I used to be on the fence about colonialism. Not any more. This is a stomach wrenching, finely detailed account of the slaughter of roughly 10 million Africans in the drive for ivory and rubber profits in the Congo River basin. If you ever read Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" as fantasy or allegory, after this you will know its nearly non-fiction. ( )

Excellent history of the Congo in that period! Hochschild said late in the book that one of the accomplishments of the humanitarian movement at that time was to provoke outrage at the inhumane treatment of other human beings. The book certainly accomplished that, too. ( )

This book revolutionized my understanding of the history of the slave trade and the relationship between Europe and Africa. It's not exactly what they taught me in school... ( )

Countless (but not all, the author is careful to note) problems in the Congo can be traced to Belgian King Leopold’s making it his own personal property to fund his massive building projects in Belgium. The horrors are unreal and the death toll of millions rivals the worst mass killings in history. A snapshot of the effect of foreign colonialism, by king or country. Excellent research, detailed, and well-told. ( )

Review: King Leopold Ghost by Adam Hochschild.

This was a long interesting book. I couldn’t believe some of the information I read, not just about King Leopold but other famous people who was acquainted with King Leopold. The many different characters made the book long pace but the author gave plenty of information on each character and their history and how they impacted on the world, which I found helpful. The solitude of the area and the time period brought up many happenings, good and bad. The author at the time had a hard time finding a publisher because of some of the research he accumulated was foreign to the world because many people wanted nothing to do with the Congo’s information that was carried out at that time.

King Leopold was obsessed with expanding Congo even when it was not his land. He was harsh, greedy, selfish, and insatiable and his unfair treatment towards the people in the Congo which he pressed for punishment by his officials was truly gruesome leaving many disfigured, and some without limbs. The author stated that King Leopold wasn’t the only brutal person in this book. Many Belgians never told their stories and were tired of the embarrassing extravagance and selfishness that the officials put before them.

All the information about King Leopold who seized the vast unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River was overpowering the people’s rights. He was corrupted by stealing Belgium’s main industrial lifeline of rubber; he brutalized Belgium’s people, and decreased their population by millions. ( )

Sharp and pungent account of the colonization and exploitation of the Belgian Congo by King Leopold II, who to say the least comes across as a conniving hypocrite in this account. Little wonder it isn't popular in Belgium, but the author does a good job in marshaling the facts to argue his case. With millions dead, directly or indirectly, this is one of the forgotten demographic disasters of the colonial era. Recommended. ( )

This was the best non-fiction I've read since The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, which means it's one of the top histories I've read in my life. It taught me a history I was only passingly familiar with, and it examined the legacy of slavery in a way that was engaging: not overwhelming, not oversimplifying. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough. Read it now. ( )

I think this book probably deserves all the praise it's gotten--certainly making the mass murder and extreme violence something that more people know about is admirable. It's pretty well-written, and flows nicely.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, though, I have Beef. The first has to do with Hochschild's sense of inevitability when it comes to colonization; he uses word like "guaranteed" when it was at no point guaranteed. It seems small, but boy did it rankle--the question of inevitability regarding colonization supports larger structures of white supremacy in really subtle ways. (We won't get into the numerous references to "American Indians" and that whole mess, but needless to say: yikes.)

It struck me also, reading the afterward to the anniversary edition, how different this book would have been if Hochschild wasn't determined to write it in this specific way, ie that thing where popular history writers do the biographic deep dive on every important player in the book. That, more than anything, seemed to be his stumbling block on including African people in his narrative, but what would the book maybe have looked like if he wasn't so tied to that structure? I know, at this point it looks like I'm asking for a different book, but I think it's an important question to ask in light of his obvious responses to "where are the voices of African people in this book?"

(Also quick sidebar: his repeated insistence that colonization is not the only reason that countries in Africa struggle today, and that in fact it has more to do with the cultural patriarchy that exists, is really pretty gross and also holds the "democratic" nation-state as the measure by which we hold success. Relying on the Enlightenment as the Reason why European nation-states are doing better is a deeply slippery slope, my dude.)

Regardless, I can see why people read this, and why it's so popular in classrooms; it is at least a decent introduction to the violences that make up colonization, especially extractive colonization as in this case. Paired with some other work, it could be really instructive, and at the very least is promoting the knowledge of the violence to more readers than before. ( )

Exterminate all the brutes! ... said no colonialised victim I guess. And even if some of them did, could we accuse them of savagery? In case of Congolese, I think we couldn't do that easily I guess.

Some pages of this book was a very difficult read, not because of the language, but because of details of the atrocities committed by Belgians, as well as other colonialists. Before that book, I only had a very vague idea about what Leopold II of Belgium did in Congo. I didn't have a good idea about the unbelievable greed he nurtured throughout his life, and the havoc it caused on about 10 million people of Congo in only a few decades.

My path to this book started with the famous movie "Apocalypse Now" which was followed by Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Then a friend of mine shared an old article from The New Yorker magazine (thanks Baybars!), an article written by Hochschild, that tried to track and identify the real-life "Mr. Kurtz". Finally, I got my hands on this book of Hochschild, and met not only the people that did more than inspire Conrad for his Mr. Kurtz, but also others whose cold brutality knew almost no boundaries.

The book compiles cold, hard facts and puts them into a perspective and great narrative. In a very readable manner, the reader realizes how the very strong drive for more and more profits lead to brutal exploitation, torture, and murder. The death toll is of genocidal proportions, yet this is not a genocide, all the big players are in it only for the money. The direct and indirect death of millions of people of Congo is "just" an unfortunate side effect, justified in devilish ways using religion, ideology of superiority, bringing civilization to the savages, etc.

But tragedy on this scale is also accompanied by heroes of unshakable will and integrity: I'm really glad to read the larger-than-life stories of E.D. Morel, and his "partner" Casement, among others. They deserve to be much more famous, because they are great examples of how to defend the basic rights of humanity against all odds. To be fair, there are also a few Belgians, noble in their efforts to do "the right thing" and bring some justice, to the extent it is possible at all in this huge mess.

Finally, as Hochschild himself admits, the voice of people of Congo isn't heard much throughout the pages. This, after the horrific acts of terror themselves, is probably the saddest aspect of his piece of history.

My understanding of Belgium's colonialism has been deeply enhanced thanks to this terrific book, and I'll continue to observe recent campaigns by Belgians, such as Sorry is a Start (WHO CAN FIND THE RIGHT WORDS TO APOLOGISE TO THE CONGO?).

If you are also curious how immense cruelty can be caused not by pathological sadism, but by simple greed for more money and power, put into a systematic form, this is one of the most striking books to read, not only for understanding history better, but also shedding a light on today's struggles. ( )

I read Hochschild's "Bury the Chains" last year, and wasn't very impressed; it was too padded. This book, in contrast, has a much more interesting story, and finds a better balance between characters and events, and between details and narrative. Knowing nothing of the story going into it, the facts were revelatory. And the characters are fascinating. It is quite a page-turner.

I was bothered that Hochschild too frequently shows his own bias. Certain characters are the heroes and others the villains, and Hochschild is too willing to overlook the flaws of the heroes while imputing motives to the villains. Several times a hero and a villain will do the same thing, but in different chapters, and yet Hochschild's descriptions will be night and day. This was unnecessary. It is also unfortunate that we are missing the sources to get at most of the story. ( )

As a beginner on the subject, this is an interesting read. The author likes to go into the psychology of the individuals he's describing and I wish he wouldn't. One player is perhaps cruel because of his upbringing, one is passionate about ending the slavery, but as they weren't particularly religious, we're not sure why.

Hochschild's facts are much more interesting than his guesses. ( )

Warning: Deeply dark, depressing, powerful. This is the story of the European colonization of Africa, especially the Belgian colonization of the Congo. It reveals the massive slave trade which was created, the impact to the region's peoples and resources, and sets the ground for the current ongoing dark state. It's the kind of book I didn't enjoy reading, but it moved me deeply and changed me. (Warning: Gruesome details. Photos of maimed slaves. Will mess up a student's ideas about First World nations bringing light and prosperity to subject peoples) ( )