WINNER OF THE 1999 DUFF COOPER PRIZE. Brilliant.. this book must be read & 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 speakers platforms around the US & Europe. One open letter to The Times was signed by 11 peers 19 bishops & 75 MPs. Viscount Grey Britains 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 & gripping Mail on Sunday An exemplary piece of history writing: urgent vivid & compelling Literary Review