Reviews tagging 'Rape'

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

12 reviews

crybabybea's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

2.0

Had too much filler information for my taste, felt more like a biography than a history of Congo, which maybe I should have expected from the title. Very little of the book was dedicated to the Congo and its suffering under King Leopold's rule, instead we spent a lot of time talking about King Leopold and other important figures of the time and their backstories in an attempt to psychoanalyze them. Found it hard to follow as we jumped from figure to figure. I also felt it lacked an African/Congolese perspective which made it feel very white-centric and almost white savior-ish at times. The writing itself was incredibly dry and sprinkled with too many of the author's personal opinions.

The bits which did talk about Congo were informative and harrowing.

Groundbreaking for its time but I don't think it holds up well as a history of Congo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

scarlettblythe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

Essential reading for anyone wanting a primer on colonialism outside the English-speaking world. An enormous strength is the author's attempts to name and connect us to individual Congolese people and their stories wherever possible, while still focusing on the broader picture which, from the realities of the historical record, erases these individual people. Deftly connects King Leopold to colonialism throughout Europe and elucidates the differences without excusing atrocities by other powers. The conclusion weaves a strong nuanced connection from this history to Congo's history and present. Content warnings: there are photos which are graphic but due to time period they were taken, quite blurred. They are in easily discernable photo sections and can be skipped. Written descriptions are blunt, factual, statements of atrocities but not gratuitous or torture porn. Racial slurs are written as they were said at the time by the individual without censorship.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Trafficking, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

drbealstod's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Torture, Violence, and Colonisation

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, and War

alexijai98's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

demonxore's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

3.5

This book was a good introduction to the atrocities of colonial Congo, but I feel like it is incomplete with regard to how historical events set the stage for perpetuated strife in the region. The ending feels rushed and loosely strung together. Hopefully there is another book out there that picks up where this leaves off. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

samants's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

4.75

I was assigned to read this in high school, but skipped the assignment completely. I'm really glad I finally took the time to go back and read this -- it's a harrowing read, but a necessary one if you want to better understand how colonialism destroys cultures and lives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Colonisation

_cararichardson's review against another edition

challenging informative sad medium-paced

5.0

I think this has been one of my favorite nonfiction reads. It definitely deserves the hype. Hochschild doesn’t mince any words and he admits any shortcomings his narrative has. The psychology of the people in this book is well explored, which I found fascinating. It’s an excellent and harrowing account of human nature and how time and time again we have repeated history while simultaneously rewriting it to be better than it was. What particularly struck me is that hindsight is 20/20; what we view as revolutionary or polarizing today will likely be considered the just point of view in the future. Revolutionaries like Morel or Casement are often not recognized until after death. Of course, I wish we had access to the perspective of Africans, but as Hochschild repeatedly reminds us, we don’t typically keep good records of the oppressed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Slavery

riverofpages's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and War

crlpedigo's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

Minor: Rape

weinerman's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Violence