There is a vast disparity between the companies that sell products containing cobalt and the people who dig it out of the ground. I was horrified to read about the children and women who hand mine this metal for a mere dollar a day. They fear tunnel collapsing, working in radioactive water, and speaking out against their meagre wages. Hochschild cites the research of several historians, many of them Belgian. He refers especially to Jules Marchal, formerly a Belgian colonial civil servant and diplomat who (as Hochschild describes) spent twenty years trying to break Belgian silence about the massacres. The documentation was not easy to come by; the furnaces of the palace in Brussels are said to have spent more than a week burning incriminating papers before Leopold turned over his private Congo to the Belgian nation. For many years Belgian authorities prevented access to what remained of the archives, notably the accounts given by Congolese to the King's Commission. Ebert, Roger (June 9, 1995). "Congo Movie Review & Film Summary (1995)". RogerEbert.com . Retrieved September 17, 2017. While this exposé was long overdue and undoubtedly valuable, I couldn’t escape my disappointment over its relatively limited scope. While it does a good job revealing the horrible tragedies stemming from mining, there is very little information detailing the role of major American corporations (outside of general references to “tech and EV companies”). The United States is rarely mentioned—except when the author detailed America’s disdain for Patrice Lumumba and unease over China’s position of power over the modern mining sector. Speaking of China, the giant to the East essentially shares blame with the corrupt Congolese government for the modern state of affairs in the Congo. While I appreciated the information on how China came to dominate the mines of the Congo, the author missed an opportunity to drive home just how dependent the Western powers are on keeping Congo exactly the way it is.

These quotes set the tone for this exposé on the cobalt mining-induced plight imposed on the citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Katanga province. This book does a disturbingly good job depicting the gruesome and tragic details of cobalt-mining in the Congo. It also weaves in the history of how the Congo came to be what it is—nothing more than a mineral resource colony for more developed nations. The author conducted on the ground research and spoke to numerous individuals involved in the market, including miners and traders on multiple levels. With these accounts the book reveals the horrific details of mining in the Congo. The author asked one man why they keep doing it, why not leave and just like many of us it seems like they can’t see another way. If man has to do something dangerous, it helps to be angry. It's for his own protection, really. Better he should hate someone than fall apart." The pacing in this one, like all Crichton books, is absolutely on the money. It starts of by hitting you with a lot of factual that is a slight grind but soon gets going and never lets up right to an exciting and climactic finish. It's all very well done.The author gets a little editorial at times. This is not what I would consider impartial journalism, but the core of the message carries the day and instance after instance of human rights violations and terrible working conditions combined with just the grueling health effects paints a striking picture. The difference? It's been updated, everything moves faster, there's better equipment, and everybody's more sarcastic and cynical than ever before. No duh. Really!? In an epilogue, it is revealed that Munro was able to retrieve 31 carats of the valuable diamonds and sold them to Intel for use in a revolutionary new computer processor, while Amy was reintroduced into the wild and was later observed teaching her offspring sign language. King Leopold's Ghost was specifically singled out for praise by the American Historical Association when it gave Hochschild its Theodore Roosevelt-Woodrow Wilson Award in 2008. [17] In an article published by The American Conservative, political scientist Bruce Gilley was highly critical of the accuracy of the book. [18] See also [ edit ] The writing style is nothing to write home about. Crichton uses very few similes or metaphors and he's never overly descriptive. But that's not what you're paying your money for and the author more than makes up for this in his ability to get across informative, technical snippets in a digestible and easily understandable format. His ability to do this should not be underestimated.

Congo was written in 1980 by Michael Crichton. With a few, very minor details (such as gushing over how awesome it is to have a comuter with 256K memory) this is a tale that reads very well to this day. Michael Crichton [Chicago 23 ottobre 1942 – Los Angeles 4 novembre 2008] era alto 2 metri e 6 centimetri.

Congo presents a new approach th the miniature adventure gaming, blending trilling adventures and a strong and tactical game system. The rulebook of Congo details the rules, the different cultures available to play along with modelling tips.

Trotz der regelmäßigen und teils überholten Infodumps ist das Buch auch aus heutiger Sicht für mich noch vier Sterne wert. Das liegt vor allem an dem tollen Schauplatz, der spannenden Haupthandlung und an Amy. Dieser Berggorilla ist einfach zum Verlieben. Ich würde sie ohne zu zögern adoptieren. :) I thought that the ground in the Congo took its vermillion hue from the copper in the dirt, but now I cannot help but wonder whether the earth here is red because of all the blood that has spilled upon it.” What makes this a four star read still, for me personally, is the great setting, the thrilling adventure and the lovable Amy. The adorable mountain gorilla is by far the best character in this book and I completely fell in love with her and would adopt her without hesitation. Need another clear picture? Did you know that during the pandemic there was increased pressure put on Congolese cobalt extraction? Billions of us relied, more than ever, on our rechargeable batteries to continue remote working and schooling. It put pressure on the artisanal miners and many more children had to join the mining workforce to keep up with the demand and help their families survive. COVID protocols? What protocols? Non-existent. If they didn’t contract the virus and share it with their family causing death, they still stopped their education to provide for US.The author is asked at the end that “have you understood what it’s like?” from a miner. “Yes, you work in horrible conditions…” He is interrupted.