Book description
WINNER OF THE 1999 DUFF COOPER PRIZE. 'Brilliant .. this book must be
read and re-read' Neal Ascherson'. 'A hundred years ago, enlightened
people in the western world were outraged by a holocaust in Africa which
left millions dead. Denunciations thundered from speaker's platforms
around the US and Europe. One open letter to The Times was signed by 11
peers, 19 bishops and 75 MPs. Viscount Grey, Britain's foreign
secretary, declared that no overseas issue had so intensely aroused the
British public for 30 years. Conan Doyle wrote a pamphlet on the Congo
atrocities which sold 25,000 copies in the first week alone. Yet today
not one person in a thousand could say what the fuss was all about,
unless, of course, they have read this amazing book.' Tariq Ali,
Financial Times 'Fascinating ... brilliant and gripping' Mail on Sunday
'An exemplary piece of history writing: urgent, vivid and compelling'
Literary Review
