King Leopold's Ghost
Updated: Aug 8
I began reading this book—surreptitiously, I might add—while working as a security guard at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art circa 2002. The museum had a special exhibit on Congolese art, and, in addition to other reference materials made available was Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost. Sneaking a few pages at a time during my infrequent posts on the special exhibit (reading while on post was strictly verboten), I was immediately enthralled by the story and hooked with Hochschild's weaving of it. Though I'd only managed 75 or a hundred pages by the time the exhibit moved on (or I did, I can't recall), I never forgot the book and it remained on my wishlist for more than a dozen years. That is, until I finally got a first-edition hardback from my wonderful wife, Megan, for Christmas.
Even in cruder hands, the story would no doubt be riveting. I knew little to nothing of King Leopold II's Congo Free State, the plunders and atrocities committed during the ivory and (far more lucrative and brutal) rubber “trades,” the lengths to which Leopold worked to keep his “African liberation” and “free trade” ruses alive, nor the tireless work of a very few people to expose Leopold and bring the whole pretense to an end. But Hochschild, with his shrewd organization, perfect pacing, fleshed-out characters and, above all, his inviting, conversational style made King Leopold’s Ghost nearly impossible to put down.
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