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

dark emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

At the end of the nineteenth century, King Leopold II of Belgium maneuvered his way into control of the Congo, destroying the region and its people in his quest to extract all and any profit he could from it.

I knew the story of Leopold and the Congo, but only its vague outlines. This book fills in the image in a horribly vivid fashion. Extensively researched and well-written, it made me queasy with the kinds of things people are able to do to each other, and depressed that I never really disbelieved that we were capable of it.
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