KING LEOPOLD’S GHOST BOOK REVIEW
A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
There are books you read and as soon as you put them down, you have little or no recollection of how the story(ies) therein unfolded. Then there are others you leaf through and they forever tag at your heart given how enthralling the story was. The latter aptly describes ‘King Leopold’s Ghost’, an enraging book about a monster who is not talked about as much. Ask anyone about Adolf Hitler and they will immediately recognize him. Leopold most likely did worse than Hitler, but he is not widely known, especially in the present times.
I landed my hands on this book by chance. My interest in reading it was piqued after I came across numerous posts and pics on Twitter on chocolate hands. These chocolates are made in the shape of a hand, an agonizing image of the chopped hands of people who failed to attain their rubber quotas at a time when the world faced unprecedented demand for rubber.
King Leopold II, may his soul forever rot in hell, was a Belgian king who caused untold misery in the Congo without ever stepping into the country. Driven by insatiable greed, Leopold deployed troops in the Congo in what became the most murderous part of the European Scramble for Africa. An estimated 10 million people died under his misrule. His cronies viewed the residents as primitive and undeserving of being treated with respect or any sense of dignity. They were forced to work under the harshest of conditions, taken as hostages, starved, their homes burned, and their farms destroyed. Overworked porters were always chained and anyone who dared resist was subjected to innumerable strokes of the chicotte, a whip of raw, sun-dried hippopotamus hide, cut into a long, sharp-edged cork-screw strip.
The book is set in the late 1890’s and early 1900s. It is not a mere account of what went on. It recounts the genocidal scale of killings in Africa (read Congo) at the turn of the century. Leopold ruled under the guise of philanthropy, hoodwinking almost the entire world that he had the best interest for the Central African country. The brutality dished out on the citizens remained concealed for over a decade until the activities of key human rights activists in the country exposed Leopold for who he was-a Hitleresque, soulless monster.
By the end of the book, I had more expletives to describe Leopold than the superlatives his fanatics and cronies used to praise him. This review barely scratches the surface in painting a picture of the atrocities committed by Leopold as well as the bravery shown by activists who compelled Leopold to give up the Congo. Adam Hochschild poured his soul in this book researching and putting together a timeless read that will enlighten you on various issues. I definitely would recommend it.
