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

I read this book in connection with "The Poisonwood Bible," which when I read it for the first time, thought it was about the family but on re-reading, realized it was more concerned about anti-colonialism. A dear friend, member of our church's book club, recommended "King Leopold's Ghost" to put the Price family's story into clearer context. It is a horrific story; it is estimated that between 1870 and early 19o0s 50% of the population or 10 million people died through sickness, starvation and just plain cruelty. The Belgians went into the Congo looking for a colony like the larger countries had. In the mean time cars were invented, the need for rubber was enormous and quotas were placed on the natives. Failure to meet the quota was severely punished. One minor clerk in Liverpool and another young man in Ireland noted that ships were coming back from the Congo fully laden but were returning empty, although publicity stated that the Congolese were benefiting greatly from the rubber trade. They dedicated their lives and health to put an end to this inhumane treatment of fellow human beings. King Leopold belongs to a long list of monsters, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung and sadly the list continues.

The book is non-fiction but reads like a novel. It is not for the weak stomached but I would still recommend it to everyone. It begs the thought, what am I using today that was manufactured under inhumane practices?

What astonished me was that nice Belgian boys would go to the Congo and soon participate in the worst cruelties imaginable. And yet, why am I surprised. "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9