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

by Hochschild, Adam | PB | Good
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Condition:
Good
Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, ... Read moreAbout condition
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Item specifics

Condition
Good
A book that has been read, but is in good condition. Minimal damage to the book cover eg. scuff marks, but no holes or tears. If this is a hard cover, the dust jacket may be missing. Binding has minimal wear. The majority of pages are undamaged with some creasing or tearing, and pencil underlining of text, but this is minimal. No highlighting of text, no writing in the margins, and no missing pages. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections. See all condition definitionsopens in a new window or tab
Seller notes
“Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, ...
Binding
Paperback
Weight
0 lbs
Product Group
Book
IsTextBook
No
ISBN
0618001905
Book Title
King Leopold's Ghost : a Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
Item Length
9in
Publisher
HarperCollins
Publication Year
1999
Format
Trade Paperback
Language
English
Item Height
1.1in
Author
Adam Hochschild
Genre
History, Social Science, Political Science
Topic
Slavery, Labor & Industrial Relations, Africa / General, Sociology / General, Human Rights, Indigenous Studies, Africa / Central, World / African
Item Width
6in
Item Weight
10.4 Oz
Number of Pages
400 Pages

About this product

Product Information

In the 1880s, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. Carrying out a genocidal plundering of the Congo, he looted its rubber, brutalized its people, and ultimately slashed its population by ten million--all the while shrewdly cultivating his reputation as a great humanitarian. Heroic efforts to expose these crimes eventually led to the first great human rights movement of the twentieth century, in which everyone from Mark Twain to the Archbishop of Canterbury participated. King Leopold's Ghost is the haunting account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions, a man as cunning, charming, and cruel as any of the great Shakespearean villains. It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who fought Leopold: a brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure and unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust. Adam Hochschild brings this largely untold story alive with the wit and skill of a Barbara Tuchman. Like her, he knows that history often provides a far richer cast of characters than any novelist could invent. Chief among them is Edmund Morel, a young British shipping agent who went on to lead the international crusade against Leopold. Another hero of this tale, the Irish patriot Roger Casement, ended his life on a London gallows. Two courageous black Americans, George Washington Williams and William Sheppard, risked much to bring evidence of the Congo atrocities to the outside world. Sailing into the middle of the story was a young Congo River steamboat officer named Joseph Conrad. And looming above them all, the duplicitous billionaire King Leopold II. With great power and compassion, King Leopold's Ghost will brand the tragedy of the Congo--too long forgotten--onto the conscience of the West.

Product Identifiers

Publisher
HarperCollins
ISBN-10
0618001905
ISBN-13
9780618001903
eBay Product ID (ePID)
978053

Product Key Features

Book Title
King Leopold's Ghost : a Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
Author
Adam Hochschild
Format
Trade Paperback
Language
English
Topic
Slavery, Labor & Industrial Relations, Africa / General, Sociology / General, Human Rights, Indigenous Studies, Africa / Central, World / African
Publication Year
1999
Genre
History, Social Science, Political Science
Number of Pages
400 Pages

Dimensions

Item Length
9in
Item Height
1.1in
Item Width
6in
Item Weight
10.4 Oz

Additional Product Features

Lc Classification Number
Dt655
Grade from
Ninth Grade
Reviews
Carefully researched and vigorously told, King Leopold's Ghost does what good history always does -- expands the memory of the human race., An enthralling story, full of fascinating characters, intense drama, high adventure, deceitful manipulations, courageous truth-telling, and splendid moral fervor . . .A work of history that reads like a novel., "An enthralling story, full of fascinating characters, intense drama, high adventure, deceitful manipulations, courageous truth-telling, and splendid moral fervor . . . A work of history that reads like a novel." --Christian Science Monitor "As Hochschild's brilliant book demonstrates, the great Congo scandal prefigured our own times . . . This book must be read and reread." --Neal Ascherson, Los Angeles Times "A vivid, novelistic narrative that makes the reader acutely aware of the magnitude of the horror perpetrated by King Leopold and his minions." --The New York Times " King Leopold's Ghost is a remarkable achievement, hugely satisfying on many levels. It overwhelmed me in the way Heart of Darkness did when I first read it--and for precisely the same reasons: as a revelation of the horror that had been hidden in the Congo." --Paul Theroux "Carefully researched and vigorously told, King Leopold's Ghost does what good history always does--expands the memory of the human race." --The Houston Chronicle, "An enthralling story, full of fascinating characters, intense drama, high adventure, deceitful manipulations, courageous truth-telling, and splendid moral fervor . . .A work of history that reads like a novel." Christian Science Monitor "As Hochschild's brilliant book demonstrates, the great Congo scandal prefigured our own times . . . This book must be read and reread."--Neal Ascherson The Los Angeles Times "A vivid, novelistic narrative that makes the reader acutely aware of the magnitude of the horror perpetrated by King Leopold and his minions." The New York Times "King Leopold's Ghost is a remarkable achievement, hugely satisfying on many levels. It overwhelmed me in the way Heart of Darkness did when I first read it-and for precisely the same reasons: as a revelation of the horror that had been hidden in the Congo." -- Paul Theroux "Carefully researched and vigorously told, King Leopold's Ghost does what good history always does -- expands the memory of the human race." The Houston Chronicle, "King Leopold's Ghost is a remarkable achievement, hugely satisfying on many levels. It overwhelmed me in the way Heart of Darkness did when I first read itand for precisely the same reasons: as a revelation of the horror that had been hidden in the Congo." -- Paul Theroux, "An enthralling story, full of fascinating characters, intense drama, high adventure, deceitful manipulations, courageous truth-telling, and splendid moral fervor . . .A work of history that reads like a novel." Christian Science Monitor "As Hochschild's brilliant book demonstrates, the great Congo scandal prefigured our own times . . . This book must be read and reread."--Neal Ascherson The Los Angeles Times "A vivid, novelistic narrative that makes the reader acutely aware of the magnitude of the horror perpetrated by King Leopold and his minions." The New York Times "King Leopold's Ghost is a remarkable achievement, hugely satisfying on many levels. It overwhelmed me in the way Heart of Darkness did when I first read it--and for precisely the same reasons: as a revelation of the horror that had been hidden in the Congo." -- Paul Theroux "Carefully researched and vigorously told, King Leopold's Ghost does what good history always does -- expands the memory of the human race." The Houston Chronicle, A vivid, novelistic narrative that makes the reader acutely aware of the magnitude of the horror perpetrated by King Leopold and his minions., "As Hochschild's brilliant book demonstrates, the great Congo scandal prefigured our own times . . . This book must be read and reread."--Neal Ascherson, "An enthralling story, full of fascinating characters, intense drama, high adventure, deceitful manipulations, courageous truth-telling, and splendid moral fervor . . .A work of history that reads like a novel." Christian Science Monitor "As Hochschild's brilliant book demonstrates, the great Congo scandal prefigured our own times . . . This book must be read and reread."--Neal Ascherson The Los Angeles Times "A vivid, novelistic narrative that makes the reader acutely aware of the magnitude of the horror perpetrated by King Leopold and his minions." The New York Times "King Leopold's Ghost is a remarkable achievement, hugely satisfying on many levels. It overwhelmed me in the way Heart of Darkness did when I first read it—and for precisely the same reasons: as a revelation of the horror that had been hidden in the Congo." -- Paul Theroux "Carefully researched and vigorously told, King Leopold's Ghost does what good history always does -- expands the memory of the human race." The Houston Chronicle
Copyright Date
1999
Lccn
98-016813
Dewey Decimal
967.5/102
Intended Audience
Trade
Dewey Edition
21
Illustrated
Yes

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Product ratings and reviews

4.5
15 product ratings
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Most relevant reviews

  • Most favourable review

    One of history 's worst mass murderers.

    Astounding tale of greed, cruelty and unbridled racism by a colonial tyrant who ruled Belgium and created the Belgian Congo as his own piggy bank. Phenomenallyrics well researched historical indictment of a bloodthirsty killer who easily joins the ranks of Hitler and Stalin. Only worse. An unputdownable history lesson, of human list for power and money, and the crimes committed under colonialism and the Scramble for Africa.

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-ownedSold by: jakegorton2014

  • Belgium Atrocities

    This is my second review on ebay of a book. Although I read this book a few months back I can still say a few things about it that I remember. First of all, it is filled with a lot of unnecessary details, like a persons clothing, hair color, personal history blah, blah, blah. Also there are quite a few characters involved, some are pertient to the story and others not pertinent.... With that being said - it could have been a lot more concise. Therefore, theoretically, at least 100 pages could have been ommitted and the reader would have still gotten the main points/story. Also, it is based on historical fact -or so the author claims - of inhumane atrocities that the colonial European powers inflicted upon Africansin the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Regarding this subject, I ...

  • great Book. well written on a forgotten subject.

    Book itself in "new" condition. Subject matter well presented. Have been looking for a book on this subject for several years, Most informative!

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-ownedSold by: second.sale

  • Compelling Tale of the Congo

    This is a must read for any history buff. A tale of European hubris and brutality on a grand scale. King Leopolds's Congo was the source material for Conrad's "Heart of Darkness. Fiction could nor truly describe the horrors indigenous tribes endured under the brutal reign of Leopold's henchmen. Hitler doesn't have a thing on this Belgian king.

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-ownedSold by: thrift.books

  • Text book style

    It was a good book but I was not in the mood to study history.

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-ownedSold by: goodwillexpress