Reviews tagging 'Violence'

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

25 reviews

laur_o's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Colonisation

adubbs11's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Violence

ckiyoko's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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

mondovertigo's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, and War

common_household_mom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

thunderplunder's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

gnome_tomes's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Colonisation, 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