A former diplomat in the Belgian Congo, Jules Marchal (1924-2004) spent twenty years researching forced labor. Adam Hochschild is the author of the award-winning 'King Leopold's Ghost' and 'Bury the Chains.' He teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.
His capacious narrative is both disturbing and fascinating. * The New Yorker * A hundred years ago, enlightened people in the western world were outraged by a holocaust in Africa which left millions dead. Yet today not one person in a thousand could say what the fuss was all about, unless, of course, they have already read this amazing book. -- Tariq Ali * Financial Times * A brilliantly told tale, at once horrifying and pleasurable to read. * Publishers Weekly * No other scholar, looking at any other part of Africa, has studied colonial forced labour as thoroughly as Marchal has in the Congo. -- Adam Hochschild, from the introduction