King Leopold's ghost
Subtitle: a story of greed, terror, and heroism in Colonial Africa
By: Adam Hochschild.
Edition: 1st Mariner Books ed.
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 366
Subjects: Forced labor -- Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History -- 19th century.; Forced labor -- Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History -- 20th century.; Indigenous peoples -- Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History -- 19th century.; Indigenous peoples -- Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History -- 20th century.; Human rights movements -- History -- 19th century.; Human rights movements -- History -- 20th century.; Congo (Democratic Republic) -- Politics and government -- 1885-1908.; Congo (Democratic Republic) -- Race relations -- History -- 19th century.; Congo (Democratic Republic) -- Race relations -- History -- 20th century.
Description: "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." "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."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 338-350) and index.