Adam Hochschild Books
Adam Hochschild is an American author, journalist, and historian known for his works on social justice and human rights. He co-founded Mother Jones magazine and has written several acclaimed books on history and moral conscience, including 'Bury the Chains' and 'To End All Wars'.
Known for: Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
Books by Adam Hochschild
Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves
A narrative history of the late 18th- and early 19th-century British abolitionist movement, this book recounts how a small group of activists, writers, and reformers launched one of the first great hu...
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
King Leopold's Ghost is a historical narrative that exposes the brutal exploitation and atrocities committed in the Congo Free State under King Leopold II of Belgium. The book intertwines the stories ...
Key Insights from Adam Hochschild
The Early Dissenters: Voices of Conscience
Before the cause of abolition had a name, there were quiet murmurs among groups whose faith taught them that conscience stands above profit. The Quakers were the first to see that the slave ship violated something sacred in all creation. In their communities, moral purity meant direct engagement wit...
From Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves
Thomas Clarkson’s Awakening: One Man’s Mission
In 1785, a young Cambridge student named Thomas Clarkson sat down to write a Latin essay on whether slavery was lawful according to natural law. The question transformed his life. As he researched, he read description after description of suffering aboard slave ships and in Caribbean plantations. Wh...
From Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves
King Leopold II’s Ambitions
Leopold II was not the first European monarch to dream of empire, but his brand of ambition was of another order—cold, calculating, and cloaked in moral rhetoric. Belgium was a small country, newly formed and without colonies, yet its king yearned to stand among the great imperial powers of his time...
From King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
The Berlin Conference and the Creation of the Congo Free State
The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 was where Leopold’s dream acquired legality. Convened under Bismarck’s auspices, it was ostensibly designed to regulate European colonial claims in Africa and to advance anti-slavery efforts. In reality, it was a forum for dividing a continent. Leopold played his h...
From King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
About Adam Hochschild
Adam Hochschild is an American author, journalist, and historian known for his works on social justice and human rights. He co-founded Mother Jones magazine and has written several acclaimed books on history and moral conscience, including 'Bury the Chains' and 'To End All Wars'.
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Adam Hochschild is an American author, journalist, and historian known for his works on social justice and human rights. He co-founded Mother Jones magazine and has written several acclaimed books on history and moral conscience, including 'Bury the Chains' and 'To End All Wars'.
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