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

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

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

by Adam Hochschild

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
Condition
Fine /Fine
ISBN 10
0395759242
ISBN 13
9780395759240
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About This Item

Houghton Mifflin. DJ in archival cover. . Fine. Hardcover. 1998.

Synopsis

In the 1880s, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. Carrying out a genocidal plundering of the Congo, he looted its rubber, brutalized its people, and ultimately slashed its population by ten million--all the while shrewdly cultivating his reputation as a great humanitarian. Heroic efforts to expose these crimes eventually led to the first great human rights movement of the twentieth century, in which everyone from Mark Twain to the Archbishop of Canterbury participated. King Leopold's Ghost is the haunting account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions, a man as cunning, charming, and cruel as any of the great Shakespearean villains. It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who fought Leopold: a brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure and unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust. Adam Hochschild brings this largely untold story alive with the wit and skill of a Barbara Tuchman. Like her, he knows that history often provides a far richer cast of characters than any novelist could invent. Chief among them is Edmund Morel, a young British shipping agent who went on to lead the international crusade against Leopold. Another hero of this tale, the Irish patriot Roger Casement, ended his life on a London gallows. Two courageous black Americans, George Washington Williams and William Sheppard, risked much to bring evidence of the Congo atrocities to the outside world. Sailing into the middle of the story was a young Congo River steamboat officer named Joseph Conrad. And looming above them all, the duplicitous billionaire King Leopold II. With great power and compassion, King Leopold's Ghost will brand the tragedy of the Congo--too long forgotten--onto the conscience of the West.

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Details

Bookseller
J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
006917
Title
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
Author
Adam Hochschild
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Fine
Jacket Condition
Fine
Quantity Available
1
ISBN 10
0395759242
ISBN 13
9780395759240
Publisher
Houghton Mifflin
Place of Publication
Boston
Date Published
1998
Pages
366

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About the Seller

J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
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Garrison, New York

About J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints

We are a 50 year old, third generation antiquarian bookshop nestled in the bucolic Hudson Highlands of New York's historic Hudson Valley, less than a mile from a transverse of the Appalachian Trail. While we have strong first edition literature and poetry collections, we specialize in New York, history, and Americana. We are a proud member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA).

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Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...

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