By Adam Hochschild
A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
At the turn of the century, as the European powers were
carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium carried out a
brutal plundering of the territory surrounding the Congo River.
Ultimately slashing the area's population by ten million, he
still managed to shrewdly cultivate his reputation as a great
humanitarian. A tale far richer than any novelist could invent,
King Leopold's Ghost is the horrifying account of a
megalomaniac of monstrous proportions. It is also the deeply
moving portrait of those who defied Leopold: African rebel
leaders who fought against hopeless odds and a brave handful of
missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa
for work or adventure but unexpectedly found themselves witnesses
to a holocaust and participants in the twentieth century's
first great human rights movement. (From the back cover)
A film by the same name, based on this book has been released.
The film includes interviews with Adam Hochschild, archival
footage and the voices of Alfre Woodard, Don Cheadle, and James
Cromwell
Paperback, 318pp, Notes, Bibliography, Index
