King Leopold's Ghost
by Adam Hochschild
Houghton Mifflin

Historical writing can be dry as a desert. Most readers, including lovers of the subject, stumble at one time or another upon an unreadably dull piece of history about a fascinating topic. This leaves the question: what if a particularly dull book had been written by someone with a knack for storytelling and a clear writing style?

Alternatively, there are times when history is written with such vivid force and emotional momentum that it becomes as engrossing as a first-class novel. "King Leopold's Ghost" falls squarely into the latter category.

"King Leopold's Ghost" is a historical tragedy of global proportions. Set in the palaces and boardrooms of Europe, and in the villages of central Africa, it tells the story of King Leopold II of Belgium, and the African colony he built and founded with his own private resources.

By the turn of the 19th century, The Belgian Congo had evolved into a rather terrible place. As an increasing demand for rubber spurred Leopold to transform the colony into a wild rubber plantation worked by natives living in slave-like conditions, colonial overseers began a reign of terror and exploitation that eventually sparked an international campaign of protest.

Author Adam Hochschild paints Leopold's portrait with deft, sensitive strokes, rendering a picture of a bright, scheming, sinister politician with a keen business sense and a ruthlessness that matches some of the most feared despots of history.

One of the most enjoyable things about "King Leopold's Ghost" is the skill with which it describes the intermediaries and lobbyists deployed by the king to build international support and recognition for his newly founded venture. Hochschild does an excellent job of chronicling the PR war between the king's minions and the forces of human rights, and from this war springs some of the book's most interesting figures.

At the forefront of this group are women and men like black American journalist and historian George Washington Williams and human rights crusader Edmund Dean Morel, whose tireless international campaign against the Belgian colony eventually reaped great dividends in terms of improved treatment of those forced to live under European control. Other players also make a vivid impact upon the reader. Hochschild's portrait of the shockingly cruel African explorer Henry Morton Stanley could quite easily be re-worked into its own fascinating text.

Anyone with an interest in race relations, colonialism or human rights should find "King Leopold's Ghost" to be a riveting, rewarding read. But Hochschild's book has a broader audience. Anyone with an interest in the way we care for or mistreat other humans may find a great deal of food for thought here, as well.

— James Norton (jim@flakmag.com)