King Leopolds Ghost by Adam Hochschild is the story of the Congo genocide in the Congo Free State and the international outcry that eventually lead to modest reform in the Congo. Its a tale of heroes and villains and the author isnt afraid to tell you whos who. Essentially King Leopold II of the Belgiums using diplomacy and appeals to humanitarian aid took over the recently accessible Congo river basin as his own personal colony in 1885. Then using violence over the native population, he first harvested ivory and then wild rubber. However, an international outcry spearheaded by William Sheppard, E. D. Morel and Roger Casement eventually caused the colony to be sold to Belgium in 1908. By the time it was over, an estimated ten million died. Ultimately the book is carried by its topic more than its writer. Its a story that needs to be told and remembered. However, the author wants to make sure you get the message rather than to let the facts speak for themselves. Generally when someone is making sure that ones conscripted soldiers arent wasting bullets by making sure they give you a severed hand for every bullet used or will be whipped to near death, or you are literally the inspiration for Heart of Darknesss Mr. Kurtz right down the severed heads, either a modern reader will think thats terrible or all the commentary about the awfulness of this isnt going to convince. Likewise, the psychoanalysis doesnt help much. Its almost at the “Because he wasnt loved as a child, he was driven to always be praised and thats why he was such a gloryhound” level. Im still organizing my thoughts on the movement itself. As seen in other histories, many pre-WWI newspapers were basically blogs. They were single or narrow topic or audience, typically labors of love by their writer(s), new ones being made or folded constantly, and widely used as the source of information and organization. It leads to very current air to the whole movement. Ultimately, Im not sure if Ill recommend the book or not. The wikipedia article on the Congo Free State is more or less a concise summary of the book, but with far less side commentary. I recognize the photos in the article from the book. And much like their use in the initial protest over a century ago, they really do speak for themselves. Next Book: Devil Takes the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation by Edward Chancellor
Posted on: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 02:56:11 +0000
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