King Leopolds Ghost Essay -- essays research papers

Book Review of King Leopolds Ghost, by offer HochschildWhat some have considered to be the low international scandal ofthe juvenile era took place in the Congo from 1890 until 1910. King LeopoldII of Belgium was at the head of this so-called scandal. Although Europeand the rest of the world seemed to have forgotten the victims of thesecrimes, there is a considerable amount of material to use when attempting to beguile the horror that took place in Leopolds Congo. This is exactlywhat Adam Hochschild is attempting to do by writing this book. By using thewritten words of mostly Europeans and Americans, which creates a distortedview of history, he wants to show that the Holocaust type fact that tookplace in the Congo is something that should never be forgotten in ourhistory. Hochschild also wants to show the heroism that took placeafterwards in what became the first human rights movement of our time. Hochschild does an excellent and detailed job of showing how cunningand cunning (l ike a fox) Leopold was in obtaining and maintaining his holdin the Congo. Early on Leopold became obsessed with the idea of coloniesand the profit that they could bring to his country. In the beginning hedid not attempt to cover-up this ambition, but soon realized he needed to inorder to have the approval of those countries around him. The illustrationHochschild uses to explain Leopolds venture into the Cong...