Hacker News Reader

Thanks for this. Could you share the rest of your reading list?

Friends of the Congo: http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/films-a-videos.html has some great resources about this.

Another classic is Heart of Darkness (although a fiction, it tells much about colonialism)

King Leopold's Ghost is also a great read: http://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/d...

I would not recommend Heart of Darkness to a beginner on the Congo. Yes it deals with the brutality of Belgian colonialism... but it's dated and has it's own racist portrayal of Africa as the dark continent with primitive peoples.

I would tho second King Leopold's Ghost as a brilliant overview of colonialism in the Congo.

Africa: A Biography: http://www.amazon.com/Africa-Biography-Continent-John-Reader...

The 'Dead Aid' book and others like it. There was a specific book on the Congo whos title I can't remember atm, but I will find.

Wikipedia is also good for context, and the associated link, for eg. starting at the second Congo war:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Congo_War

Reply on news.ycombinator.com