adam hochschild

A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa

Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild

March 14, 2026 by esmemoria 4 Comments

Listen to the yell of Leopold’s ghost Burning in Hell for hand-maimed host. Hear how the demons chuckle and yell Cutting his hands off, down in Hell The title of this review is the subtitle to Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost, an engrossing work about Belgian king Leopold the II and his disastrous, murderous, exploitative impact on Africa’s Congo region. The Congo was first contacted by Portugal in 1491 and was taken over by European colonialism by the the late 1800s. Hochschild makes good use […]

History and its Bastards. Greedy, Greedy Bastards.

King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. by Adam Hochschild

The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company by William Dalrymple

May 29, 2023 by LittlePlat 2 Comments

I think I am going to spend my Memorial Day weekend writing about history. And it’s not going to be about the nice bits of history, either. I have been holding off on a number of these reviews because sometimes the subject matter was just a little too depressing. At best, we are dealing with a conga line of arseholes. At best. And at worst? Well, we’re dealing with some pretty bad ‘at worsts’ here… The first book is Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost: A […]

King Leopold

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

January 7, 2022 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

Hochschild begins this history with a recalling of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. It would be impossible not to. For most people in the world, if they know anything about the slave trade, enforced labor, and violent atrocities that happened in the Congo under the reign of King Leopold of Beligum and then the Belgian government, they primarily know about it because of Conrad’s book. Conrad’s book occupies a tense space in English literature for a few reasons. One, his language, his ideology, and his […]

Malin
on CBR Diversion – YAY for YA – Genre Discussion
In my book club, when we have pretty much come to the agreement that if the protagonists are still teenagers...
katie71483
on CBR Diversion – YAY for YA – Genre Discussion
Like so many others here, I'm a sucker for Tamora Pierce. Is Robin McKinley YA? Because I love her books,...
Tracy
on Interesting From an Intellectual Standpoint
I didn’t find it funny, and I’m not sure if my sense of humor doesn’t mesh with his or if...
Jen K
on CBR Diversion – YAY for YA – Genre Discussion
Oh, see I definitely read it as, “give your teens this magic school book instead.” Maybe because I remember The...
wicherwill
on CBR Diversion – YAY for YA – Genre Discussion
Interesting with Scholomance, I very much read it as the adult book for former YA magic school book readers

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