Like the majority of 19th-century European rulers, King Leopold of Belgium wanted a piece of Africa. Though the nation he led was never powerful enough to compete with France and Great Britain, he did manage to snatch a large territory in the heart of the continent: what is today known as the Congo, where he left a horrific bloody legacy that included the murder, rape, and torture of between 4 and 8 million native Congolese people. This book is important in that it is one of the few to document these atrocities, and does much to help us understand the truly damaging effects of European colonialism in Africa, the results of which can still be seen and felt today.

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