"King Leopold of Belgium's exploits up the Congo River in the 1880s were central to the European partitioning of the African continent. The Congo Free State, Leopold's private colony, was a unique political construct that opened the door to the savage exploitation of the Congo's natural and human resources by international corporations. The resulting 'red rubber' scandal—which laid bare a fundamental contradiction between the European propagation of free labor and 'civilization' and colonial governments' acceptance of violence and coercion for productivity's sake—haunted all imperial powers in Africa. Featuring a clever introduction and judicious collection of documents, Michael Rutz's book neatly captures the drama of one king's quest to build an empire in Central Africa—a quest that began in the name of anti-slavery and free trade and ended in the brutal exploitation of human lives. This volume is an excellent starting point for anyone interested in the history of colonial rule in Africa." —Jelmer Vos, University of Glasgow

With an introduction by award-winning novelist Barbara Kingsolver In the late nineteenth century, when the great powers in Europe were tearing Africa apart and seizing ownership of land for themselves, King Leopold of Belgium took hold of the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. In his devastatingly barbarous colonization of this area, Leopold stole its rubber and ivory, pummelled its people and set up a ruthless regime that would reduce the population by half. . While he did all this, he carefully constructed an image of himself as a deeply feeling humanitarian. Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize in 1999, King Leopold’s Ghost is the true and haunting account of this man’s brutal regime and its lasting effect on a ruined nation. It is also the inspiring and deeply moving account of a handful of missionaries and other idealists who travelled to Africa and unwittingly found themselves in the middle of a gruesome holocaust. Instead of turning away, these brave few chose to stand up against Leopold. Adam Hochschild brings life to this largely untold story and, crucially, casts blame on those responsible for this atrocity.

Belgium was a small, neutral country without a colonial tradition when King Leopold II ceded the Congo, his personal property, to the state in 1908. For the next half century Belgium not only ruled an African empire but also, through widespread, enduring, and eagerly embraced propaganda, produced an imperialist-minded citizenry. Selling the Congo is a study of European pro-empire propaganda in Belgium, with particular emphasis on the period 1908–60. Matthew G. Stanard questions the nature of Belgian imperialism in the Congo and considers the Belgian case in light of literature on the French, British, and other European overseas empires. Comparing Belgium to other imperial powers, the book finds that pro-empire propaganda was a basic part of European overseas expansion and administration during the modern period. Arguing against the long-held belief that Belgians were merely “reluctant imperialists,” Stanard demonstrates that in fact many Belgians readily embraced imperialistic propaganda. Selling the Congo contributes to our understanding of the effectiveness of twentieth-century propaganda by revealing its successes and failures in the Belgian case. Many readers familiar with more-popular histories of Belgian imperialism will find in this book a deeper examination of European involvement in central Africa during the colonial era.

Reproduction of the original: The Casement Report by Roger Casement

The man who bought a country -- The emergence of an idea -- King Leopold's Borneo -- Bismarck's Borneo -- Epilogue: "A great act of folly

"Joey rivets you in the opening pages." "Fascinating historical fiction." "LOVE this book!" Epic storyteller Joey O'Connor leads you into the spellbinding, exotic world of the Scramble for Africa, where the untold story of a high-stakes human rights battle between a missionary and a monarch leads to the world's first international human rights trial. In post-Civil War Virginia, William Sheppard pursues his lifelong dream of becoming a missionary in Africa. But as an African American man, he faces heartbreaking prejudice from the Presbyterian missions board. Unexpectedly, he is matched with an unlikely colleague—the very white Samuel Lapsley. A deep interracial friendship emerges as the two venture deep into the dangerous, Belgian-controlled Congo ruled by the evil King Leopold II. Traveling by steamship 1,000 miles up the Congo River, these two novice missionaries battle lurking pythons, rampant disease, cannibal tribes, and all the King's men. When Sheppard and Lapsley discover Leopold has enslaved the Congo for the rubber and ivory trade, they speak out against the atrocities. Leopold lashes back with a slander lawsuit against Sheppard, leading to the first international human rights trial. Millions of lives hang in the balance. Who will win? The missionary or the monarch? Discover this powerful story of a courageous African American man who risked everything to save an entire nation. Simply Click ★Add To Cart Button★ to Purchase and Start Reading Right Away! Among Kings includes Historical Photos, Author's Note, Book Club Leader’s Guide Questions, and a free excerpt from Joey's new thriller, The Cobalt Curse. Author Interview What makes Among Kings unique? Why should readers care about William Sheppard? William Sheppard is one of the most fascinating African Americans, yet he is largely overlooked in Black History. He is one of the most unknown African American heroes in America. I became intrigued by Sheppard's story after my brother-in-law gave me a book about Sheppard. As we researched his life and work, it was clear Sheppard was a beloved missionary and explorer. He was lauded by kings, queens, and U.S. Presidents. One of the most famous Americans of his day, he spoke at black and white churches all over the East Coast. He is a model of courage, compassion, and what it means to stand against injustice. Why did you write this book? In our research, we learned that in the past 20 years over six million people have died in the Congo. It’s the world’s most overlooked humanitarian crisis. What began as curiosity turned into outrage. Here in America, outrage over the racism still in our society inspired us to pursue what an interracial friendship like Sheppard and Lapsley might offer us today.

This book tells the story of humankind as producers and reproducers from the Paleolithic to the present. Renowned social and cultural historian Merry Wiesner-Hanks brings a new perspective to world history by examining social and cultural developments across the globe, including families and kin groups, social and gender hierarchies, sexuality, race and ethnicity, labor, religion, consumption, and material culture. She examines how these structures and activities changed over time through local processes and interactions with other cultures, highlighting key developments that defined particular eras such as the growth of cities or the creation of a global trading network. Incorporating foragers, farmers and factory workers along with shamans, scribes and secretaries, the book widens and lengthens human history. It makes comparisons and generalizations, but also notes diversities and particularities, as it examines the social and cultural matters that are at the heart of big questions in world history today.

Protestants entering Africa in the nineteenth century sought to learn from earlier Jesuit presence in Ethiopia and southern Africa. The nineteenth century was itself a century of missionary scramble for Africa during which the Jesuits encountered their Protestant counterparts as both sought to evangelize the African native. Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Africa, edited by Robert Alexander Maryks and Festo Mkenda, S.J., presents critical reflections on the nature of those encounters in southern Africa and in Ethiopia, Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Fernando Po. Though largely marked by mutual suspicion and outright competition, the encounters also reveal personal appreciations and support across denominational boundaries and thus manifest salient lessons for ecumenical encounters even in our own time. This volume is the result of the second Boston College International Symposium on Jesuit Studies held at the Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa (Nairobi, Kenya) in 2016. Thanks to generous support of the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College, it is available in Open Access.

This narrative of the creation, development and collapse both of King Leopold's regime, and of the Belgian colony that replaced it, provides insight into the nature of European colonialism in Africa and the consequences for Europe itself.