Congo

Congo PDF Author: David Van Reybrouck
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062200135
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 622

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Book Description
“A magnificent, epic look at the history of the region. . . . A monumental contribution to the annals of Congo scholarship” (Christian Science Monitor). The International Bestseller From the beginnings of the slave trade through colonization, the struggle for independence, Mobutu's brutal three decades of rule, and the civil war that has raged from 1996 to the present day, Congo: The Epic History of a People traces the history of one of the most devastated nations in the world. Esteemed scholar David Van Reybrouck balances hundreds of interviews with a diverse range of Congolese with meticulous historical research to construct a multidimensional portrait of a nation and its people. Epic in scope yet eminently readable, both penetrating and deeply moving, Congo—a finalist for the Cundill Prize—takes a deeply humane approach to political history, focusing squarely on the Congolese perspective, and returns a nation’s history to its people. “A compelling mixture of literary and oral history that delivers an authentic story of how European colonialism, African resistance, and the endless exploitation of natural resources affected the lives of the Congolese.” —Booklist “A vivid panorama of one of the most tormented lands in the world.” —Washington Post

Congo

Congo PDF Author: David Van Reybrouck
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062200135
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 622

Get Book Here

Book Description
“A magnificent, epic look at the history of the region. . . . A monumental contribution to the annals of Congo scholarship” (Christian Science Monitor). The International Bestseller From the beginnings of the slave trade through colonization, the struggle for independence, Mobutu's brutal three decades of rule, and the civil war that has raged from 1996 to the present day, Congo: The Epic History of a People traces the history of one of the most devastated nations in the world. Esteemed scholar David Van Reybrouck balances hundreds of interviews with a diverse range of Congolese with meticulous historical research to construct a multidimensional portrait of a nation and its people. Epic in scope yet eminently readable, both penetrating and deeply moving, Congo—a finalist for the Cundill Prize—takes a deeply humane approach to political history, focusing squarely on the Congolese perspective, and returns a nation’s history to its people. “A compelling mixture of literary and oral history that delivers an authentic story of how European colonialism, African resistance, and the endless exploitation of natural resources affected the lives of the Congolese.” —Booklist “A vivid panorama of one of the most tormented lands in the world.” —Washington Post

The History of Congo

The History of Congo PDF Author: Didier Gondola
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313011281
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
This book begins with a survey of Congo's early history, when diverse peoples such as the Luba, the Kuba, and the Nilotic inhabited the area, and continues by tracing the country's history through the Belgian period of colonization and the dictatorships of Mobutu and Kabila. Biographical portraits present important figures in Congo's storied history. An annotated bibliography and chronology help make this the most current and accessible introduction to this fascinating, complex, and long-suffering nation. The Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, is located at the center of Africa. The country encompasses the entire Congo River Basin, the potential source of 13% of the world's hydroelectric power. The Congo River Basin also contains one-third of Africa's rainforests, countless species of trees, and more then 10,000 species of flowering plants. Congo contains extremely valuable deposits of diamonds and coltan, a metal used in high-tech machinery. Because of this abundance of natural resources, Congo has unfortunately been the site of colonial domination, repressive dictatorships, and internecine violence between rebel groups and neighboring countries.

Stringer

Stringer PDF Author: Anjan Sundaram
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 038553776X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
In the powerful travel-writing tradition of Ryszard Kapuscinski and V.S. Naipaul, a haunting memoir of a dangerous and disorienting year of self-discovery in one of the world's unhappiest countries.

The Congo from Leopold to Kabila

The Congo from Leopold to Kabila PDF Author: Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja
Publisher: Zed Books
ISBN: 9781842770535
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
As this book shows, the People of the Congo have suffered throughout the past century from a particularly brutal experience of colonial rule, and a series of post-independence political conflicts. But as this insightful political history of the Congolese democratic movement of the 20th century decisively makes clear, its people have not taken these multiple oppressions lying down. Instead, they have struggled both to establish democratic institutions at home and to free themselves from exploitations abroad.

Selling the Congo

Selling the Congo PDF Author: Matthew G. Stanard
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 0803239882
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
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.

King Leopold's Congo and the "Scramble for Africa"

King Leopold's Congo and the Author: Michael A. Rutz
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 1624666582
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Book Description
"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

King Leopold's Ghost

King Leopold's Ghost PDF Author: Adam Hochschild
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1760785202
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 474

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Book Description
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.

In the Forest of No Joy: The Congo-Océan Railroad and the Tragedy of French Colonialism

In the Forest of No Joy: The Congo-Océan Railroad and the Tragedy of French Colonialism PDF Author: J. P. Daughton
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393541029
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
The epic story of the Congo-Océan railroad and the human costs and contradictions of modern empire. The Congo-Océan railroad stretches across the Republic of Congo from Brazzaville to the Atlantic port of Pointe-Noir. It was completed in 1934, when Equatorial Africa was a French colony, and it stands as one of the deadliest construction projects in history. Colonial workers were subjects of an ostensibly democratic nation whose motto read “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,” but liberal ideals were savaged by a cruelly indifferent administrative state. African workers were forcibly conscripted and separated from their families, and subjected to hellish conditions as they hacked their way through dense tropical foliage—a “forest of no joy”; excavated by hand thousands of tons of earth in order to lay down track; blasted their way through rock to construct tunnels; or risked their lives building bridges over otherwise impassable rivers. In the process, they suffered disease, malnutrition, and rampant physical abuse, likely resulting in at least 20,000 deaths. In the Forest of No Joy captures in vivid detail the experiences of the men, women, and children who toiled on the railroad, and forces a reassessment of the moral relationship between modern industrialized empires and what could be called global humanitarian impulses—the desire to improve the lives of people outside of Europe. Drawing on exhaustive research in French and Congolese archives, a chilling documentary record, and heartbreaking photographic evidence, J.P. Daughton tells the epic story of the Congo-Océan railroad, and in doing so reveals the human costs and contradictions of modern empire.

The Lumumba Generation

The Lumumba Generation PDF Author: Daniel Tödt
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110709376
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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Book Description
How and why did the Congolese elite turn from loyal intermediaries into opponents of the colonial state? This book seeks to enrich our understanding of the political and cultural processes culminating in the tumultuous decolonization of the Belgian Congo. Focusing on the making of an African bourgeoisie, the book illuminates the so-called évolués’ social worlds, cultural self-representations, daily life and political struggles. https://youtu.be/c8ybPCi80dc

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters PDF Author: Jason Stearns
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610391594
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
A "meticulously researched and comprehensive" (Financial Times​) history of the devastating war in the heart of Africa's Congo, with first-hand accounts of the continent's worst conflict in modern times. At the heart of Africa is the Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked by a brutal war in which millions have died. In Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, renowned political activist and researcher Jason K. Stearns has written a compelling and deeply-reported narrative of how Congo became a failed state that collapsed into a war of retaliatory massacres. Stearns brilliantly describes the key perpetrators, many of whom he met personally, and highlights the nature of the political system that brought these people to power, as well as the moral decisions with which the war confronted them. Now updated with a new introduction, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters tells the full story of Africa's Great War.