Lord Leverhulme’s Ghosts: Colonial Exploitation in the Congo – Jules Marchal

Available with shipping in the US only. The definitive account of exploitation in the Congo, introduced by Adam Hochschild, translated by Michael Thom. In the early twentieth century, the worldwide rubber boom led British entrepreneur Lord Leverhulme to the Belgian Congo. Warmly welcomed by the murderous regime of King Leopold II, Leverhulme set up a private kingdom reliant on the horrific Belgian system of forced labour, a programme that reduced the population of Congo by half and accounted for more deaths than the Nazi Holocaust. In this definitive, meticulously researched history, Jules Marchal exposes the nature of forced labour under Lord Leverhulme’s rule and the appalling conditions imposed upon the people of Congo.With an extensive introduction by Adam Hochschild, Lord Leverhulme’s Ghosts is an important and urgently needed account of a laboratory of colonial exploitation. Reviews“His capacious narrative is both disturbing and fascinating.” – New Yorker “A hundred ye