By Adam Hochschild, ADAM HOCHSCHILD is the author, among other books, of "King Leopold's Ghost: a Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa." It was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and h (sic)
December 22, 2006
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:
Your interview in the Washington Post made headlines across the country Wednesday because you continued to talk about "victory" in Iraq — a hint that you may increase the number of American troops there.
But it caught my eye for a different reason. In it (after expressing some "befuddlement" at the suggestion that you do not read books), you explained that the most recent book you read was "King Leopold's Ghost," about the plundering of Congo a century ago. This pleased me because I wrote that book.
Sometimes college history classes that read "King Leopold's Ghost" invite me in for a seminar. Before you ask Karl to call me, however, let me just say that I regret that I'm not going to be able to do that in this case. The Christmas season is a busy time, after all, and I'm going away for a while. Instead, let me just raise a few follow-up questions with you here.
First, as you now know, the long effort by King Leopold II of Belgium to bring Congo under his control was driven by his avid quest for a commodity central to industry and transportation: rubber. Does that remind you of anything?
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