Title: Propaganda by the author of an African holocaust
Product review: As noted already by another reviewer, if you do read this book, please read "King Leopold's Ghost" by Hochschild. The latter is a wonderfully written account of a nightmare society that was built with Stanley's willing cooperation (Stanleyville was named after him). Moreover Hochschild's account is the result of years of research in libraries to reconstruct a history that King Leopold, Stanley's backer, sought hard to obliterate. When you read headlines today about atrocities in the Congo today, be aware that Stanley is very directly responsible for what has happened. To give you an insight into the man, his contemporaries report that he enjoyed shooting Africans for sport. Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" is based on his own first-hand experiences in the Congolese slave society that Stanley helped to build. Too many good people sacrificed lives and careers to bring this to light, for people to now ignore the truth.
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