"The Race to Fashoda: Colonialism and African Resistance" by African- American scholar David Levering Lewis is an excellent, extremely well- written and researched text about the same subject.
~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > 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 â" a holocaust that killed ten million Africans â" 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/
