HISTORY _King Leopold's Ghost_ (http://sublit.com/ad/func/ct.php?mail_list_id=22&job_id=465325&subscriber_id=247296&listing_id=LISTING_ID&url=www.amazon .com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0618001905/102-1521687-6248139) by Adam Hochschildjournalistic account of King Leopold II's colonization of the Congo, which killed ten million Africans, inspired Heart of Darkness, and led to Mobutu Sese Seko's brutal dictatorship.
Review When Adam Hochschild realized that King Leopold II's colonization of the Congo — a holocaust that killed ten million Africans — was largely untold and unremembered, he decided to write King Leopold's Ghost. Hochschild is a Berkeley professor, a long-time journalist, and cofounder of Mother Jones, and in his able hands what could have been a morbid read becomes an eye-opening, plotty story filled with intrigue and poignancy. King Leopold II assumed the throne of Belgium in 1865, and if there were ever a monarch whose ambitions did not fit his country, he was it. Hemmed in by an elected government and larger, stronger _neighbors_ (http://sublit.com/ad/func/ct.php?mail_list_id=22&job_id=465325&subscriber_id=247296&listing_id=LISTI NG_ID&url=www.onwar.com/aced/nation/fax/france/ffranceprussia1870.htm) , Leopold's dreams of power, wealth, and empire seemed destined to wither away until _Henry Morton Stanley_ (http://sublit.com/ad/func/ct.php?mail_list_id=22&job_id=465325&subscriber_id=247296&listing_id=LISTING_ID&url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki /Henry_Morton_Stanley) emerged (barely alive) from his treks through the Congo in 1877. Courting the macho trailblazer, Leopold was able to get the inside scoop on the vast jungle from virtually the only person who could provide it to the Western world. It wasn't long before Leopold laid claim to an enormous swath of land, halving the Congo's indigenous population in 40 years and making himself rich and powerful. As the wealth stacked, so did the atrocities: children were clubbed to death to save bullets, women were abducted to compel men to work, and entire villages were razed to plant rubber. Despite _the horror_ (http://sublit.com/ad/func/ct.php?mail_list_id=22&job_id=465325&subscriber_id=247296&listing_id=LISTING_ID&url=etext.lib.virginia.edu/e tcbin/toccer-new2?id=ConDark.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/mode ng/parsed&tag=public&part=all) of Leopold's regime, King Leopold's Ghost is also a story of redemption. Hochschild relates the tale of George Washington Williams, a plucky African-American polymath who began the crusade to liberate the Congo from Leopold's grasp. Although tuberculosis claimed Williams before the Congo was free, the torch was picked up by E.D. Morel, a Liverpool dockworker who could not ignore his conscience once he realized that the firearms he helped ship to the Congo in exchange for ivory and rubber could only mean slave labor. Showcasing Hochschild's keen eye for detail, King Leopold's Ghost does just what a history should do; it relates an episode that we should care about, and tells it in a way that will make us want to know more. (SE) Carole McDonnell "Then said I, 'Here am I; send me.'" www.geocities.com/scifiwritir/OreoBlues.html alternate email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Life without art & music? Keep the arts alive today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/FXrMlA/dnQLAA/Zx0JAA/LRMolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
