Reddit mentions: The best central africa history books

> What we call bias, is another way of describing our individual way of seeing the world. Knowledge can make this more clear, but always how I see things, is different to how you see.

We have been talking past each other on this matter. My understanding of "bias" is grounded in the cognitive science literature founded by Kahneman and Tversky, it is a veritable buffet of precisely defined inadequacies. Your use of the term "bias" appears to be very close to my use of words like "subjective", or "implicit", or "personal". I would pay dearly to alleviate the former, just as I would pay to retain the latter.

> I would be glad if you would share your thoughts about these ideas of mine in regard to faith and love as the only epistemology of knowing about God.. It is not an idea I have heard from someone else, but something of my own creation, so it is difficult to judge the solidity of its veracity on my own.

While I have heard similar conceptions in my journey (as the writer of Ecclesiastes says, there is nothing new under the sun), I accept and am impressed that it is independently originated by you. While I'm unclear how productive this line of inquiry will prove, allow me to generate a response.

I would first like to hear the mechanism elaborated in greater detail (a motivating question could be: what epistemological methods does this idea of love entail?)

But the shape of my response is unlikely to change, provided your conception of love is not terribly surprising. And that is that all human relationships that participate in love do not occur in an empirical vacuum. Rather, all such human love-heuristics are contingent on visceral evidence.

To use an analogy: I allow myself to love my siblings because I have vivid memories of our childhood together, memories that can be corroborated by sense experience. I would not love them if I had not first developed very strong reason to not doubt their existence.

This is one reason why I am uncomfortable applying your love-heuristic to theology: because I feel no such assurances that God exists. I am willing to expand my existence-affirmers beyond sense data (I would consider theism if I thought its many metaphysical arguments worked). But I find myself wanting to only apply my socially-oriented love-heuristic once I am assured that a recipient exists. It seems to me that to decide otherwise is to open oneself up to self-deception.

>> the physicalist must explain how physical events map to mental phenomena.

> You will need to do even more than this. The same problem of interaction you ascribe to substance dualism applies here. Even a complete map of neural correlates will not suffice for explanatory power. You will need to explain how these physical events will cause phenomenological properties. The two are not identical, so then I can point to no physicalist explanation of mechanism of interaction, but also no account of mechanism of production.

I'm realizing now that I was using an abnormally broad notion of mapping. We are in agreement. NCC maps are distinct from explanation.

> What will you make of our intuitive linguistic preference for substance dualism?

Ah, incisive question - my sentence before had failed to consider this fact. I would appeal to Metzinger's appeal to transparency: the interface between our mental modules and our self-models are so efficient they appear contiguous.

> I would propose that [folk psychology] is at present a more accurate predictor of behaviour than any tool of cognitive science. Necessarily again faith enters, we can only know each other with faith or trust that what you tell me, or what you do, is a true description of your inner life. How will cognitive science ever conquer this fact?

I don't think there is a fact to conquer: cognitive science performs much better than folk psychology when it comes to prediction. This is, of course, a very broad claim, but one I could coat with an arbitrary amount of evidence. I can start with the remarkable successes of clinical psychology, and how they are unparalleled to any tradition grounded in folk psychology. I would also note that the bystander effect is something predicted by cognitive science, but consistently surprises laymen versed in folk psychology.

> [Theoretical innovation] is surely happening now and hope you will not judge the truth of our side too harshly for this point only.

I won't.

> the quantum subject is not so much my interest.. Your lesson has taken root, because my mind is now saying I will need to apply the same skeptism to what you are telling me [about QM physicalist interpretations]!

I would advise caution here. Taking my words with a grain of salt is a virtue, but skepticism mixed with incuriosity is a System 1 defense mechanism. This response to my argument about the diversity of QM interpretations is distressingly similar to that of a Zande responding to criticism of his systems of oracles.

A work I recently finished that you might find interesting was King Leopold's Ghost. It was a rigorous study and explanation of Belgian colonialism in the Congo under King Leopold in the 19th and 20th centuries; I found the book gave a very vivid summary of that, and filled in a bit of a blind spot of mine to the exact horror European colonialism could reach to. I was familiar with colonialism in the general, but I think it furthered my understanding to see such a detailed work on just one example of colonialism in history.

A couple books ago, I also read The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution which, although a work of historical analysis primarily, still informed me in the process of elaborating its historical analysis of quite a bit of history to which I was hitherto unaware. I've heard its arguments come across even better if you're acquainted with Francis Fukuyama's other political philosophy work (famously, The End of History and the Last Man), but I had not read that and its arguments still came across well. It was fairly wide-spanning in history like the title says, but as a fairly long work it was still able to go into detail. The book shined the most for me when it was exploring state building in India and China, while relating and contrasting these processes to the mechanics of European state building, something I was more familiar about. He describes the story of state building in all these areas, starting from the very beginning, and attempts to answer why it went certain directions in some places but differed in others. He makes the very convincing argument that religion was an essential factor, relating it to the rule of law and informing me in the process a lot of the details of how religion operated in India and China historically. I'm not really qualified to accurately evaluate the book's core theses, but disregarding them, the journey to those theses was still very enlightening.

Also, I think I've seen you mention elsewhere on this subreddit your interest in phenomenology and philosophy at large. I was wondering how you would recommend approaching the canon to say, have a good understanding of someone like Heidegger. It feels a bit overwhelming to look at the sheer complexity of later philosophy like that and confront it. Do you think it would be best to try to start at the beginning of Western philosophy and move up from there, work by work? I have a basic knowledge of some philosophy, mostly gained at random from secondary resources and occasional primary sources I found really interesting, but it's all very scattershot and not super rigorous. I'm currently reading through a history of Western philosophy which I hope will give me a broader perspective, and some more insight into how all the ideas relate and developed. Anyway, I was just hoping you might have some thoughts or advice on this, thanks.

Yes and no. That is: yes, I do, but none of these launched any kind of such military interventions like Cuba has.

For example: no matter how much encouraged by the Soviets to 'provide their share in internationalism', the East Germans haven't had that much to provide. Correspondingly, and just like Hungarians and Bulgarians, they usually limited themselves to provision of vehicles, small arms, and/or advice in regards of organising intelligence services.

If I'm to ask, it's the Czechoslovaks that were 'much more interesting' - and nearly always mis-identified as 'East Germans' - at least during the (I) Cold War: one should keep in mind that by early 1970s, Czechoslovakia was one of five top arms exporters World-wide; that the Czechoslovak (and not Soviet) advisors were crucial for (re-)establishing and training the Syrian armed forces for all of 1960s and much of 1970s; that they were exporting their arms all over Africa too, and training lots of local armed forces (see Libya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana etc., etc., etc.). Indeed, in Libya of 1980s, the Czechoslovaks run at least three pilot-schools, plus a COIN asset equipped with Aero L-39s (and thus became involved in the War in Chad); most of Libyan T-72s and BMP-1s were made in Czechoslovakia etc.

Poles came second, well after the Czechoslovaks. They constructed the Syrian Air Force Academy air base at Kweres AB, were selling T-72s and similar stuff to Iraq, Syria and few other countries.

North Koreans are their own story: one that has to be seen in its own light - because they were never as tightly controlled by the Soviet s as East Europeans were. They were usually deploying their advisors - and sometimes combat troops - on invitation from the host government. For example:

• A group of up to 40 North Korean pilots was deployed in North Vietnam during the Op Rolling Thunder. Quite a few of them got killed (for example: in Operation Bolo), and buried in Vietnam, but Hanoi then simply deleted all the related files (ironically, the NSA did the same with its recordings of intercepted radio messages in Korean...).
  
  
• A group of about 40 North Korean pilots, cooks and translators served in Egypt during the October 1973 War. Due to language differences, they flew CAPs over the Aswan area and - despite some Israeli claims of the contrary - never saw any combat.
  
  
• Slightly later (writing this from memory), Mobutu contracted North Koreans to help him build-up the Zairian armed forces ('Zaire' was the official designation of the DR Congo from 1971 until 1997). They helped train multiple big and 'heavy' units in mid-1970s (for details, see Kolwezi), though with only meagre success: their and the temperaments of the Congolese were quite 'incompatible'. Moroccans - who deployed to Zaire in 1977 and again in 1978 - and even Egyptians, seem to have been slightly more successful (and influential) in this regards.
  
  
• The North Korean advisors were present in the DR Congo under Kabila of late 1990s, too, when they trained one of newly-established units of the reconstructed Congolese armed forces (for details, see Great Lakes Conflagration).
  
  The Chinese are also 'their own story': in essence, Beijing was acting entirely independently from the USSR, solely in its own interest, which - contrary to the Cuban and Soviet interests - was frequently rather 'commercial' than 'ideological' by nature. The Chinese have played a crucial role in the establishment of the Tanzanian armed forces (for details, see Wars and Insurgencies of Uganda), and they were supporting and advising the UNITA of 1970s and 1980s. Much less is known about their involvement in the Zambian armed forces of 1970s.
  
  In other cases, the Chinese appeared as contracted support personnel for local arms acquisitions. For example, in early 1980s, there was a Chinese team helping the Sudanese become operational on their Shenyang F-6s around the same time Americans were training the locals on Northrop F-5s and the British on BAe Strikemasters. Around the same time, another Chinese team was present in Somalia, which bought about 30 Shenyang F-6s, and - and thanks to the influence of the Pakistani advisors contracted by the Zimbabweans - the Chinese also helped the local air force acquire their Shenyang F-7 interceptors.

King Leopold's Ghost-Adam Hochschild

I just got a Kindle a few weeks ago and it was my first purchase :)

I read "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad in high school and loved it and this book gives a lot of historical context to the formation of the Congo Free State and the atrocities that happened there. Really really interesting read.

Also any 'classics' they have for free which is really nice (stuff like Alice in Wonderland, Faust, Pride and Prejudice, etc, etc).

I don't know how obscure the conflict is, but the Congo Wars are definitely less well known than they should be. Dancing in the Glory of Monsters is a fantastic book which is engrossing and very easy to read. Available on Amazon. Africa's World War is another excellent but more academic/dry book about it. Also widely available.

Slave trading was already going on in West Africa by the time Portuguese Explorers began going on slave raids into the Senegambia coast in 1444. Keep in mind the "slave trade" we think of today, with a well assigned system, rules and way of treating slaves already in place. Slaves where gained by raids and through war, to which they where often put out to work, though treated much better than the Europeans did, most slaves where used as servants and used for manual labor, though given much better nourishment and treatment.

Many slaves would be treated as part of the family once enslaved, and would be allowed to eat and stay in the house of whoever family they where with. Slaves would be traded though, usually to lend off their talents or to just gain money.

When the Portuguese arrived in 1444 they sent out slave raids on the Senegambia coast, somewhat successfully until West African (Mali) forces began naval scrimmages against the portuguese vessels, often using much lower quality boats, yet, due to their skill with poison arrows where able to put the Portuguese in an increasingly tough situation until in 1456 they send Courtier Diogo Gomes to establish peace between Portugal and the Senegambia coast ruling Mali Empire (though the empire was in its decline, soon to transform into the Songhai empire)

in 1462, after peace was established, Portugal shifted its focus from raids and battles to trade with the Africans. Still desiring the original recourse they came for, slaves, they heightened demand greatly. The West Africans, seeking the valuable European goods began heightening their slave trade, taking slaves from rival nations and villages to be sold to the Europeans.

The Africans (those not being enslaved) and Europeans both prospered off of this, West Africans became wealthy off of the trade of rival nations and slave trade blossomed as a great new economic tool was established.

In short, the modern thought that Africans where "Enslaving their own" is incorrect. Slaves came from enemy and warring clans and nations, as separate culturally and individually as, say, Vietnam and China. This meant west african nations could now profit from war and battle with their rivals, and that they did. They where quite willing to trade with European partners due to the great goods the Europeans offered, and they traded slaves by their own free will. It was like any other business in a sense. Slaves already owned where traded to Europeans and more where captured after that. It was a mutually beneficial economic relationship, though it damaged the relations in west Africa greatly, throwing the nations into a time of constant tension.

---

Sources:

[The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa | by Patricia McKissack and Fredrick McKissack] (http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Kingdoms-Ghana-Mali-Songhay/dp/0805042598/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414292037&sr=1-1&keywords=Mali+%28Empire%29)

The African Slave Trade | By Basil Davidson

Yes! Thank you for bringing this up because it's absolutely influenced the way I engage my activism. Here's a photo of me running one of our first 5ks for Women for Women International with Utah For Congo. It's actually the first time I met /u/JohnDehlin in person because he came and supported the race!

I had read Half the Sky and was horrified to learn of the plight of women around the world. I'm not one to hear of something bad and sit around so I do what I do best, I organized. My friend Missy and I started 5k's to raise money for post-rape survivors in the DRC. It was a great, feel-good experience. We did it for a few years but as we both got more involved, we also got more educated.

I read King Leopold's Ghost which radically shifted my take on how I saw the world. What I saw was a history of white women who would hear about the horrors of the global south, clutch their pearls, and organize.

What this usually meant was women's societies (relief societies!) who felt like their white, western presence could save the savage from their heathen state.

If you know the history of Congo and the conflict there, they were colonized out of missionary work and the intentions of white westerners intent on rescuing them. It was horrifying to look in that mirror and realize I was complicit in a system of colonizing. A system that got them in the mess to begin with.

Colonization is violence. Mormonism too often engages in colonial ways of engaging the world and I can't support it. (However, fundamentalist are usually more intent on saving their own, including the LDS and that approach is better than trying to tell the rest of the world they need to be fixed).

Anyway, it's so hard to not be complicit in systems of violence since we are all part of these systems, but I do try my best to not reinforce them. I try and support charities where local people are working in their own corners of their own communities and let them take the lead. That is how I would vet charities. If they are outsiders trying to rescue other communities, I get suspicious.

I've tried to scale back on global activism and focus on the corners of my own world and my own community for this reason.

People are often like, "Why are you so focused on Mormonism?" Because that's the community I know and I know our struggles better than outsiders do and I'm committed and invested in making them healthier.

This is such a broad question. I want to recommend our AskHistorians Master Book List to you as it isn't focused on American history. Maybe you will find an interesting book and subject in there.

My personal recommendation would be reading up on the colonial history of Belgium, starting with King Leopold's Ghost. I couldn't put it better than the book description: In the 1880s, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. Carrying out a genocidal plundering of the Congo, he looted its rubber, brutalized its people, and ultimately slashed its population by ten million--all the while shrewdly cultivating his reputation as a great humanitarian. Heroic efforts to expose these crimes eventually led to the first great human rights movement of the twentieth century, in which everyone from Mark Twain to the Archbishop of Canterbury participated. King Leopold's Ghost is the haunting account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions, a man as cunning, charming, and cruel as any of the great Shakespearean villains. It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who fought Leopold: a brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure and unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust.

If that's not what you're looking for, maybe the history of East Germany with a focus on daily life and the Stasi could be interesting as well. But I don't have a good book recommendation for you here. The book Stasiland is very interesting, but maybe too narrow. The movie The Lives of Others could be a good starting point to get you interested.

I just realized I haven't read a non-fiction book other than a textbook in years. Not a huge fan of sermons, so I would probably never want to read that last one. The older history books are neat though. They are closer to old events, but they also have their own skewed view, so yeah, "abandoned window to the past" is a good take on them.



That does seem like something original Starlight Glimmer would go for.



For an interesting non-fiction book, I have a HEAVILY annotated copy of King Leopold's Ghost with me, though I haven't opened it in a while. It goes a bit into colonial Africa as a whole, but mostly focus on the Belgian Congo around the turn of the century. The author does a good job turning it into a story, but its all true (at least as far as I can tell), which is more horrifying.

I'm currently working through King Leopold's Ghost. It's interesting and well-written, but it is pretty darn dense. I haven't read Stuffed and Starved except in excerpts in a class but it's on my list to bring during service. Guns, Germs, and Steel is also on my list. Very popular and while there is some controversy around it I think it could prove to at least be a very entertaining read.

It's not an uncommon style, and one I'm fond of.

If you liked that, you'll also like Ship of Gold in a Deep Blue Sea, The Perfect Storm and Blackhawk Down. The books, not the movies.

For Belgium and the Congo both, I would instead recommend King Leopold's Ghost.

The book "explores the exploitation of the Congo Free State by King Leopold II of Belgium between 1885 and 1908, as well as the large-scale atrocities committed during that period. The book succeeded in increasing public awareness of these Belgian colonial crimes." (Wikipedia)

I don't think that's the book their ambassador would want us to read, though.

Well, so far I've read (well, finished, I'd started reading it in December) Anglo-Norman Warfare, which is a collection of essays edited by Matthew Strickland (recommended on the /r/WarCollege reading list), and Black Hawks Rising by Opiyo Oloye. I'm now reading the British Museum Anglo-Saxon Art book by Leslie Webster. I'm hoping to finish that fairly soon, and get started on Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1941-1942 by Robert Forczyk.

In terms of mini reviews:

-Anglo-Norman Warfare is very interesting, especially the second half. There's a lot of different academics writing in it, and they're often hilariously vicious to each other.

-Black Hawks Rising is an incredibly interesting book, but I did struggle with the way it's written. Some serious editing needs to be done. I also don't really know enough about the individual armies involved in AMISOM to be able to assess the author's regular tendency to refer to (for example) the Ugandan army as "highly professional". I wouldn't mind somebody's input on that, if any of you are more knowledgeable than I am.

-Anglo-Saxon Art is good, and has a lot of very good pictures to accompany the text. It is an Art History book though, which means I'm less at home with the terminology.

I wouldn't mind if anybody has anything to say about the Robert Forczyk book before I read it!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0618001905

This refers to rule under Leopold well before the time this picture was taken, but it's a great read.

joseph Conrad arrived in the Congo in period before it got really bad. It inspired him to write "Heart of Darkness" which is good read. and this:

http://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208965024&sr=1-1

is King Leopold's Ghost which is a history of the whole awful mess. And also a good read. Its not all bad. There are some heros. The catholic church is not one of them. Niether are any "western" governments. They behave dispicably. Mark Twain spoke out against it as did many afro americans. But its mostly pretty wretched. And not many people know about it.

In addition to what was already recommended to you, if you can, I recommend getting your hands on Barrie Collins' Rwanda 1994: The Myth of the Akazu Genocide Conspiracy and its Consequences. Collins was a member of the (British) RCP (a Trotskyist group) before it disbanded itself. You might also be interested in Rwanda and the New Scramble for Africa: From Tragedy to Useful Imperial Fiction by the Québécois nationalist Robin Philpot.

Hint: all these books are available in pdf format (if you know where to look), but I would recommend buying a real copy to support the authors.

A good book to start with and introduce yourself with African history is Penguin's Atlas of African History. It's a small book and you get an overview century by century which I reckon is a good place to start with if you don't know anything about Africa's early history.

here's an amazon link

If you wanna read about soil, I'd recommend Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth by William Bryant Logan. If you're looking for a soil science textbook, I'd go with Brady & Weil. If you're looking for just general reading recommendations, I've really been loving King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild.

If you want to read a cool story about "regression" of a once civilized place, check out a book called "Blood River", about the Congo. Not a great book, but a very interesting story.

Check out the first review on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-River-Terrifying-Journey-Dangerous/dp/B0033AGSTG

All good--for context in terms of my favorite non-fiction reads, this one is pretty high on the list, and it's not exactly riveting reading.

The book King Leopold's Ghost is all about this genocide. It's a very good read and I highly recommend it.

Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles was a good book on post-independence Africa. Has a good treatment of Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Congo, and Nigeria.

Check out King Leopold's Ghost for a really interesting non-fiction book about Leopold in the the Belgian Congo and the men who brought the genocide to light- it's an incredibly engaging read.

This book is an excellent resource for those wishing to learn more about Belgian tyranny and genocide in Congo.

Some schools of thought use majority and minority in the terms of power, as opposed to population. So the Belgium's colonizing the Congo for rubber would be the majority because they hold the power. A group with a lot of power can then systematically discriminate against a certain race because they believed that they are superior.

http://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905

My choice would be King Leopold's Ghost. I would want them to read a book that is somewhat less academic because I would want as many people as possible reading it to understand it. I also deal with many people who do not understand the costs of colonialism and the deep scarring impact of colonialism. I remember reading this book a while after reading some of the pro-colonialism work by Niall Ferguson and wanting to force him to read this book and justify his views on benevolent colonialism.

If you're interested check out King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hothschild. It's really a great book and isn't up its own ass. I read a few chapters for a class and ended up reading the whole thing. Very interesting in a non-nerdy way.

One of the best works is Alencastro's The Trade in the Living

King Leopold's Ghost is an engrossing read that would be a great companion book to Heart of Darkness, which I saw you're reading now. Even if you weren't reading HoD, King Leopold's Ghost is a book I would still be recommending.

> "King Leopold's Ghosts

Do you mean King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild? I have that one, it's great.

King Leopold's Ghost is a great read on the subject.

https://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905

Adam Hochschild wrote an excellent book about it

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild is really good. Its about the Belgian King's rule over the Congo.

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevich is an account of the Rwandan Genocide of '94.

That's more recent history, but the fact is little is written about pre-colonial Africa (not dealing with Egypt). I haven't read much, but I'm sure theres some decent readings about the Mali Empire (maybe start with Mansa Musa?).

Shinkolobwe is a tough subject to talk about as there is very little research currently done on it, but I will share what I know so long. I am hoping to delve further into it once I have finished my current projects and will post more info on it eventually.

Essentially, the Shinkolobwe uranium mine in Congo dates back to Belgian Congo (1921 onwards) and was the mine from which uranium for the Manhattan Project and the bombs dropped on Japan was gathered. The mine was officially decommissioned in 2004 but apparently still operates in an "artisanal" fashion - which just means it is being mined illegally but with the government turning a blind eye.

Very few people stop to think about where the uranium used in atomic weaponry comes from, but in the early days, most if not all of it came from the Congo - as did much of the copper used in WWI! The scale of the horror the unprotected miners suffered as a result of handling raw uranium is only now being explored - and atrocities surrounding Congo's resources are still happening today! But I digress, as we are meant to stick to the historical aspect here.

From a military history point of view, the story behind this mine is fascinating and how it intertwines with WWII logistical supplies as well as early Allied and Axis attempts at studying the chain reactions behind uranium (eventually leading to the development of atomic weaponry) is fascinating. Further, just how involved Congo was in supplying other resources to the West and the East from the early 1900's until even today is still worth exploring.

I'm sorry I can't go into further detail, I have a lot of work to take care of - but I will provide plenty of reading material below if you are interested:

---

There is a good book by Susan Williams called Spies in the Congo : America's atomic mission in World War II which explores this topic at length - though the main criticism is that there is significant speculation throughout the book (which is understandable considering the scarcity of records in Congo of the mining activities - as well as the classified nature of the documentation in the US, Belgium and UK).

I also recommend these articles if you wish to read further:

Adamson, M (2017) The secret search for uranium in Cold War Morocco

Currier, R.H. (2002) Into the Heart of Darkness: searching for minerals in the democratic Republic of the Congo

Jalata, A (2013) Colonial terrorism, global capitalism and African underdevelopment: 500 years of crimes against African peoples

And further:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-radioactive-cut-that-will-not-stay-closed/

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/17/spies-in-the-congo-susan-williams-review

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/7/23/in-congo-silence-surrounds-forgotten-mine-that-fueled-first-atomic-bombs.html

King Leopolds Ghost 3 books in one: rivetting Indiana Jones about the Stanley-Watson expedition, history politicial, how Belgium got this enourmous colony, and a detective story on how the world discovered Leo's atrocities (a lowly clerk in an Antwerp shipping company wants to know why full ships come in and empty ships go back)

https://www.amazon.com/Fly-Cathedral-Cambridge-Scientists-International/dp/0374157162/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=fly+in+the+cathedral&qid=1566474821&s=books&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/D-Day-June-1944-Climactic-Battle/dp/B00A2ATJ1Y/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=d-day+ambrose&qid=1566474874&s=books&sr=1-1 or anything by Stephen E Ambrose (also great is his history of the first railway through the US, or the Lewis expedition.

> it coudl be argued much of africa has a better life and opportunity under colonialism

Read King Leopold’s Ghost from cover to cover before you ever make this claim again.

If you want to learn more King Leopold's Ghost is a good book that will keep you hooked on the subject.

After finishing Heart of Darkness, I immediately picked up a copy of King Leopold's Ghost, a history of Belgian colonialism in the Congo. Really puts things in perspective.

A really good book on the subject of the time was King Leopold's Ghost

You night be interested in this book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004KZOWEG/

Dancing in the glory of monsters by Jason Stearns.

After starting, I cancelled plans that weekend so I could stay in and read it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/PRECOLONIAL-BLACK-AFRICA-Comparative-Political/dp/1556520883

I have not read this but a professor recommended it to see the difference in African and European society

Found it: Silent Accomplice: The Untold Story of France's Role in the Rwandan Genocide by Andrew Wallis.

Totally worth a read.

Not an article, but King Leopold's Ghost is a great book, as is The Congo: From Leopold to Kabila

Or if you have an hour to kill White King, Red Rubber, Black Death is a very well made documentary.

There is a good book about the Congo and King Leopold, called King Leopold's Ghost.

https://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905

King Leopold's Ghost

http://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905

>Wtf? Ya pas de différence entre le Congo sous les Belges et le Québec (autrefois canada-français) sous l'Angleterre.

Oui, c'était exactement la même chose. Et c'est moi qui faut apprends mon histoire...tu peux commencer ici http://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905

>Parler français...Être indépendantiste...

La Charte n'a rien de faire avec parler Français ou l'indépendantiste. Si tu es un Anglophone fédéraliste qui soutien la Charte je dirai la même chose.

Cough Cough

The last time I saw this image someone commented and recommended the book King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Someone gave it to me as a gift recently and it's on my stack, but I haven't gotten to it quite yet. I think I'll move it to the top. Before I saw this image last time I had no idea these things had happened.

Highly recommend reading "King Leopold's Ghost" to anyone interested in the history of Belgian colonialist atrocities in Africa. Warning: it makes for grim reading.

https://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1G6I5DTX3TBOH&keywords=king+leopold%27s+ghost&qid=1574558091&s=books&sprefix=king+leo%2Cstripbooks%2C143&sr=1-1

Pick up a copy of King Leopolds Ghost or The Kaiser's Holocaust. Both very readable although not much fun.

If you want to learn about our colonial history in the Congo you should read "King Leopold's Ghost" by Adam Hochschild.

Amazon Link.

I just finished King Leopold's Ghost, which was one of the most eye-opening historical books I've read. Though not about the Americas, it goes into great depth by which the European colonists committed savage atrocities against relatively peaceful indigenous populations to enslave them to produce goods and services to fuel their war machines. In this case it was rubber in the Congo.

All of this sets the stage for our current global geopolitics. It often seems like the narrative hasn't changed much, it's only pushed out of the mainstream foci, conveniently. Apparently, we're condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past due to, as you implied, revisionist histories that are spoon-fed to the young.

King Leopold's Ghost, by Adam Hochschild.

An historical account of The Congo Free State, an African country that was the personal property of King Leopold II of Belgium in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The wanton cruelty and disregard for human life shown to the African inhabitants of the area would have made Hitler blush.

If anyone wants to learn more about this topic, there is a book called King Leopold's Ghost. It has a very well-researched and heartbreaking view on the crimes committed.

http://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905

For anyone wanting to read the whole story https://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905

It's not often you get to say "Fuck Belgium"

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa

Read up on your history before making assumptions

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618001905/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_aB8TBbCQ7Q6M1

Are you suggesting that India and Pakistan, before partition, weren't subjected to 200 years of British colonial rule? That the arbitrary colonial borders drawn up by the British didn't involuntarily mash together a part of the world that was largely Muslim with a part of the world that was primarily Hindu? That atrocities and human rights abuses did not occur on a regular basis, including intentional famines? Have you done any historical reading about the actions of the East India Company in SE Asia? Do you have any thoughts on why many in the Middle East have a deep-seated, generational resentment of the Imperial behavior of the West?

Perhaps it has something to do with the firebombings and mustard gas?

>But most of the unpeaceful ones are Muslim.

This sweeping generalization is laughably ignorant. But engaging you further will not be useful, as your worldview is grounded in faith instead of historical research. If you don't think the atrocities committed by Western imperial powers didn't permanently fuck-up and fuck-over India, Africa and the Middle East, I can't help you.

Your use of the world "unpeaceful" suggests to me that you don't have a college degree. This is not to put you down, it's just to say that engaging you further will be pointless since you already have your mind made up about the "bad guys."

I can make a book recommendation though, if you have the stomach and the balls to read the historical events that inspired Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

https://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905

Technically, this is the flag of the front International African Association (1876) and The International Association of the Congo (1879–1885) before it was ever the flag of a nation.

If anyone wants to read an extremely interesting history of the Belgium's (really, Leopold II's) relationship with Africa (awful as it may be) I highly recommend King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa.

It mentions the history of this flag, and discusses the organizations who used it along with harrowing tales of incredible cruelty and greed.

Here's some suggested reading you ignorant shithead.

Or if you'd rather a quick source, here. It's even got this picture.

>Nsala, of the district of Wala, looking at the severed hand and foot of his five-year old daughter, Boali, who was killed and allegedly cannibalized by the members of Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company (A.B.I.R.) militia. Source: E. D Morel, King Leopold's rule in Africa, between pages 144 and 145

It sounds like you're trying to justify Imperialism by the actions of modern Zimbabwe.

If you want an example of European Imperialism being harmful in Africa, look no further than King Leopold II of Belgium's rule over the Congo where over 10 million people were killed while he extracted ivory and rubber from the country. This was not "self-inflicted". Source

The original point was the difference between Chinese power and European power in Africa. You brought up the failures of Zimbabwe's self rule. Nobody else was talking about self rule, we were comparing Europe to China. Since European involvement in the Congo resulted in upwards of ten million deaths over a period of twenty years, I'm going to go ahead and say that European control of Africa was not good.

We actually had to read about it in my undergrad core class. Very dense, very disturbing read.

http://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905

edit: failed hyperlink...

King Leopold II to be specific.

And he devastated the Congo. This is a book everyone should read.


Also, this book is an essential read on "ordinary men" in a Nazi reserve batallion and how they coped with (or outright enjoyed) the tasks entrusted to them. Some ran away, some drank themselves to oblivion, severe depression, etc.

Nah man i read 3 books about it, from different authors. Stop being a little r/imnotlikeothergirls by trying to look cool for dismissing the norm. Your source is a extremely biased website made for people desperate to be part of some backwards movement.

Edit: read a book

• Congo: a history
  
• King Leopold's Ghost
  
• [From the ruins of empire](http://From the ruins of empire)

The War of the World - Niall Ferguson. An overview of world events from WWI to the end of the Cold War.

Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad - Gordon Thomas. A really intriguing look at the history of the Israeli spy agency from birth to present day. It'll make you cringe, gasp, pissed off, laugh, get excited and say "Bad Ass!" throughout.

NSDQ

Maybe take a look at this documentary to get a little perspective on the current situation in the Congo. Canadians are among the top consumers of electronic goods, and it's the materials used to make these good that come from "blood minerals." There are also a few articles on the subject here, here and here. The west plays a large part in the violence in Western African nations. Canadians should at least realize that our lifestyles contribute (whether directly or indirectly) to some degree to political situations in third world countries.

And to say "it's shit because they made it shit" is so ignorant I don't even know where to start. Perhaps take a look through this book to realize how fucked up the Congo was from its earliest days of colonization.

Good Resources is King Leopold's Ghost. http://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905

To get more into it. It was the Age of Colonization and the Carving up of Africa. As the major powers took chunks for the nation for themselves King Leopold decided he wanted a part of the action.

He paid explorers to chart of the Congo River and claimed a large swath of land along it. He was competing with France to his North, and Germans to the East.

It is important to note that the Congo Free State started not as a Belguian colony but as King Leopold's personal colony. He exploited the lands for Ivory and later Rubber by essential enslaving the natives in their own homeland. Those that didn't make quotas had their hands cut off. The population in the Congo crashed, and it is general considered the 4th worst destruction of human life after the Holocaust, Stalin's Soviet Union and Mao's Communist China

The book Heart of Darkness is written about what Joseph Conrad saw when he visited.

Eventually as people learned of the atrocities King Leopold was forced to turn it over to the Belgium nation. When they took over Missionary school and other more "civilized" systems were set up, but the exploitation continued in a slightly less extreme way.

When I was in school in Belgium in the 1960s, we were taught that the Belgians did nothing but good things in The Congo. My mother confirmed that at the time, all that most Belgians knew about what went on there was on the same level: it was all good, Belgium brought light and civilization to the natives. More recently, of course, people learned the real story: slavery, torture, mutilation, rape and downright genocide, lasting for decades.

It's true that some people in Belgium knew about this, or parts of this, but for the general public the lie was all they ever heard. I remember how shocked my mother was when she read Adam Hochshild's book, King Leoplod's Ghost a few years ago.

Well, no that's the Congo. They had great teachers. You remember of course, King Leopold II who cut off people's hands if they failed to meet rubber production quotas.

• Male rubber tappers and porters were mercilessly exploited and driven to death. Leopold's agents held the wives and children of these men hostage until they returned with their rubber quota. Those who refused or failed to supply enough rubber had their villages burned down, children murdered, and hands cut off.
  
• Excellent book on the matter

Yeah, you picked a bad hill to die on, saying I " generically blame "Europeans" " when I clearly pointed out that there were Europeans calling out chattel slavery as evil as it was happening. You really should have caught that before responding.

Somewhat realated, another podcast you can check out is Behind the Bastards, which did a two part episode on Belgium's crimes in the Congo. https://www.behindthebastards.com/podcasts/part-one-king-leopold-ii-the-first-modern-bastard.htm

Did you know Leopold raised capital for his African venture by claiming he was doing humanitarian work fighting the Arabs who were enslaving Africans? And that he then used those funds to create his own slave armies and workforce to extract rubber wealth from the region? I didn't, until I took the time to listen and learn. And that's why I called you out on trying to shift blame to India and it's slave trade, bc that's an old racist tactic to muddy the waters and derail a conversation on slavery.

maybe add King Leopold's Ghost to that list: https://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905/ref=sr_1_1?crid=V66OOWR7ZQFJ&keywords=king+leopold%27s+ghost&qid=1573326603&sprefix=king+leo%2Caps%2C179&sr=8-1

edit: also, don't start an apology with feigned innocence on this subject, especially on r/blackfellas. Just own that you response was bad, and trust that we can see the effort to change course.