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

Phenomenal book. I can't recommend this enough. Impeccably researched and told in a narrative style that is incredibly accessible. Hochschild focuses on a small cast of characters, follows their stories in such an intimate way that the history and the story come to life in a novelesque way.

I don't know much about colonialism. This book was a great way to get a sense of it and its exploitative evils and how imperialistic capitalism can bring out the absolute worst in human beings. The cool thing is there is a counter to this, there are people who combatted this evil, often times at great peril to their own selves and reputations. The author does tend to give a nuanced assessment of the historical figures involved in this story, no one is overarchingly good or evil. Everyone has a variety of motives, everyone has their own flaws and blindspots and ideological strengths and weaknesses.

I absolutely loved Hochschild's chapters on Joseph Conrad. Conrad is an interesting character, an immigrant to the UK, he vehemently opposed Belgian colonialism and its dark evils of murderous exploitative genocide. He spent time in the Congo and was utterly appalled, appalled enough to write a book about it. And yet Conrad was a major cheerleader for his adopted country's own colonialism. Wtf! it showcases a striking hypocritical blindspot, a complete breakdown in ideological consistency. But Conrad was in love and had such faith in British colonialism and its positive impacts on the world that he was blinded to its dark crimes and exploitative aspects. It's noteworthy that a man as smart and talented as Conrad was not impervious to a shocking breakdown in ideological consistency. A good reminder that shows any one of us can fall into such traps with ease, we can find self-serving justifications for anything and execute the most incredible somersaults of logic to provide cover (most especially for thing/paradigms that benefit us personally). And I have no doubt I do so on various issues.

Hochschild also gives a great overview and insights into Conrad's book Heart of Darkness, which was based on Conrad's own time in the Congo. Makes me really want to reread this book. As disgusted as he was by the Belgians treatment of the African natives, Conrad still portrayed them as uni-dimensional savages which is another example showing how hard it is to transcend one's culture and time. We are people of our own time and place, and societal and cultural constraints and habits can blind us to what might now/or in future seem obvious truths or justice. Lord knows how many things I'm blinded to due to my own circumstances. But that's what I loved with reading this kind of analysis and critique of Conrad, it makes me contemplate myself, my conduct, my life. Where are my failures and inconsistencies, where am I blind to truth and justice due to my cultural habits and upbringing? How am I contributing to problems and how can I open my eyes and discover what I cannot currently see? The hope is that I will find ways to challenge myself to not be lazy in my thinking, in my views, and to continually search and seek the truth and trying to be honest and self-critical in analyzing my conduct and ideologies. Such things are hard, it is very easy to slip into defensiveness and anger when our world views/values/ideologies are challenged, our hypocrisies or double standards pointed out, so this is something I have to continually work on... Ok I'm deviating into self-indulgent self-reflection here, but come on, it's good fun haha...

My favorite character in this story was Roger Casement. A man of ideals. I found him inspiring. His story is so interesting, he was an anti-colonialist and Irish nationalist. I won't give away the arc of his narrative but it is really good.

Leopold was a fascinating character in his own right. A devilishly clever man who expertly manipulated media to control public opinion so he could continue his criminal enterprises. But his ambition and lust for power corrupted his soul, at least that's how I see it.

George Washington Williams, another complex and fascinating figure featured in this book...

Another great aspect of the book was its insights into the workings and nuances of European and American diplomacy. Diplomacy played a large role in shaping and legitimizing colonialism. The US had an interesting role in this, being the first country to legitimize the Belgian Congo.

What else what else... so many things to say on this book I'm losing track...

Oh yeah. Another interesting point. The Belgians, even long after leaving behind colonialism in the Congo, continued to hide and bury the history of what they had done. They did not want to own this history or have it widely known. It was because of the dogged tireless work of a Belgian foreign minister that the documents and archives were finally opened and revealed (I think this happened in the 80s), allowing the scope and depth of the crimes to be more fully understood and acknowledged. I cannot emphasize enough how important I think it is to own one's history, which is why I applaud what this Belgian foreign minister did. As we much as we wish to own and celebrate the beautiful aspects of our history (or what we consider such), we must also embrace and recognize the dark crimes within our past. They are both equally important.

The other bummer with this story, which Hochschild laments, is that there were few African natives from the Congo who left behind a written record of their experiences. So we are left to have this story told to us through the eyes of outsiders. There is some documentation and testimony from the victims, but sadly it is relatively scant.