Overview

The gruesome history of the Congo-Ocean Railway, a forgotten chapter in the story of colonial Africa. In September 1927, a 30-year-old man was taken from his village in the French colony of Equatorial Africa. Malemale's experiences in the following months were not unlike tens of thousands of other Africans 'recruited' for work far to the south on a massive railroad project. Colonial officials were meant to guarantee Malemale's safety, providing him with food, clothing and shelter. In reality, recruiters took men like Malemale at gunpoint, chained him by the neck to other men, and drove them with whips for weeks to a camp in the regional capital of Bangui. THE VIOLENCE OF EMPIRE tells the troubling story of the Congo-Océan, one of the deadliest construction projects in history. Drawing on a rich variety of sources, J. P. Daughton captures in vivid detail the experiences of the men, women, and children who worked on it. The result is an eye-opening account of an extraordinary episode of colonial violence that has long been overlooked. AUTHOR: J. P. Daughton has a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and degrees from Amherst College and Cambridge University. He co-edited, with Owen White, the influential IN GOD'S EMPIRE: FRENCH MISSIONARIES AND THE MODERN WORLD (Oxford University Press, 2012). His first book, AN EMPIRE DIVIDED, was awarded the American Historical Association's George Louis Beer Prize for the best book in international history. 20 b/w illustrations

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If such a shockingly large number of people had been worked to death building a railroad in Europe or the United States, it would be as notorious as the worst deeds of Hitler or Stalin. J. P. Daughton puts this little-known tragedy on the record in a searing, unforgettable and necessary way' -- Adam Hochschild, author of <i>King Leopold's Ghost</i> Masterful ... What makes it so compelling is the divide it exposes between the intentions of colonial bureaucrats, some of whom genuinely seemed to think they were lifting Africans out of poverty, and the grim reality that they enabled. The application of modern government to conquered people could be almost as savage as plunder, Mr Daughton shows -- <i>The Economist</i> Meticulously researched, vividly narrated and devastatingly compelling, The Violence of Empire provides a significant contribution to the mounting evidence that lays bare the self-deceiving lie at the heart of empire, that of the civilising mission . J. P. Daughton details the horrific abuse carried out by the colonial regime upon the African population during the construction of the Congo-Ocean railroad, from forced labour to torture and murder, and finds evidence not just of African suffering but also African resistance' -- Aminatta Forna, author of <i>The Devil that Danced on the Water</i> In this tour de force of historical research, J. P. Daughton tells the horrifying story of the Congo-Ocean railroad, a massive, ill-conceived construction project whose French overseers doomed some 20,000 African workers to die. This story, revealing as it does France's imperial hubris and callous disregard of human suffering, should have been told a long time ago. But it has been buried by bureaucrats, overlooked by historians and made invisible to those who chose not to see. We owe Daughton a great debt for bringing it to light and for masterfully adding a new chapter to the tragic history of Central Africa under European colonial rule -- Edward Berenson, author of <i>The Accusation</i> Sailing with J. P. Daughton into the French empire's heart of darkness is a visceral, haunting and memorable experience. The Violence of Empire will stand alongside Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost as a chilling testament to the crimes of European civilisation -- Marcus Rediker, author of <i>The Slave Ship</i>

If such a shockingly large number of people had been worked to death building a railroad in Europe or the United States, it would be as notorious as the worst deeds of Hitler or Stalin. J. P. Daughton puts this little-known tragedy on the record in a searing, unforgettable and necessary way' -- Adam Hochschild, author of <i>King Leopold's Ghost</i> The book is a masterful, if relentlessly bleak, account of the construction of the Congo-Ocean Railway, a route designed to connect the central African interior to the Atlantic. What makes it so compelling is the divide it exposes between the often admirable intentions of colonial bureaucrats, who did genuinely think they were lifting Africans out of poverty, and the grim reality that they enabled. The application of modern government to conquered people could be almost as savage as plunder, Mr Daughton shows -- <i>The Economist</i> Meticulously researched, vividly narrated and devastatingly compelling, The Violence of Empire provides a significant contribution to the mounting evidence that lays bare the self-deceiving lie at the heart of empire, that of the civilising mission . J. P. Daughton details the horrific abuse carried out by the colonial regime upon the African population during the construction of the Congo-Ocean railroad, from forced labour to torture and murder, and finds evidence not just of African suffering but also African resistance' -- Aminatta Forna, author of <i>The Devil that Danced on the Water</i> In this tour de force of historical research, J. P. Daughton tells the horrifying story of the Congo-Ocean railroad, a massive, ill-conceived construction project whose French overseers doomed some 20,000 African workers to die. This story, revealing as it does France's imperial hubris and callous disregard of human suffering, should have been told a long time ago. But it has been buried by bureaucrats, overlooked by historians and made invisible to those who chose not to see. We owe Daughton a great debt for bringing it to light and for masterfully adding a new chapter to the tragic history of Central Africa under European colonial rule -- Edward Berenson, author of <i>The Accusation</i> Sailing with J. P. Daughton into the French empire's heart of darkness is a visceral, haunting and memorable experience. The Violence of Empire will stand alongside Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost as a chilling testament to the crimes of European civilisation -- Marcus Rediker, author of <i>The Slave Ship</i>

'Daughton tells this awful tale with great authority ... As he so convincingly demonstrates, [the Congo-Ocean's] construction was a story of dreadful suffering that dragged on for many years and costs tens of thousands of African lives.' * Times Literary Supplement * If such a shockingly large number of people had been worked to death building a railroad in Europe or the United States, it would be as notorious as the worst deeds of Hitler or Stalin. J. P. Daughton puts this little-known tragedy on the record in a searing, unforgettable and necessary way' -- Adam Hochschild, author of <i>King Leopold's Ghost</i> Masterful ... What makes it so compelling is the divide it exposes between the intentions of colonial bureaucrats, some of whom genuinely seemed to think they were lifting Africans out of poverty, and the grim reality that they enabled. The application of modern government to conquered people could be almost as savage as plunder, Mr Daughton shows -- <i>The Economist</i> Meticulously researched, vividly narrated and devastatingly compelling, The Violence of Empire provides a significant contribution to the mounting evidence that lays bare the self-deceiving lie at the heart of empire, that of the civilising mission . J. P. Daughton details the horrific abuse carried out by the colonial regime upon the African population during the construction of the Congo-Ocean railroad, from forced labour to torture and murder, and finds evidence not just of African suffering but also African resistance' -- Aminatta Forna, author of <i>The Devil that Danced on the Water</i> Daughton tells this awful tale with great authority ... As he so convincingly demonstrates, [the Congo-Ocean's] construction was a story of dreadful suffering that dragged on for many years and costs tens of thousands of African lives -- Barnaby Phillips, <i>TLS</i> In this tour de force of historical research, J. P. Daughton tells the horrifying story of the Congo-Ocean railroad, a massive, ill-conceived construction project whose French overseers doomed some 20,000 African workers to die. This story, revealing as it does France's imperial hubris and callous disregard of human suffering, should have been told a long time ago. But it has been buried by bureaucrats, overlooked by historians and made invisible to those who chose not to see. We owe Daughton a great debt for bringing it to light and for masterfully adding a new chapter to the tragic history of Central Africa under European colonial rule -- Edward Berenson, author of <i>The Accusation</i> Sailing with J. P. Daughton into the French empire's heart of darkness is a visceral, haunting and memorable experience. The Violence of Empire will stand alongside Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost as a chilling testament to the crimes of European civilisation -- Marcus Rediker, author of <i>The Slave Ship</i>

Author Information

J. P. DAUGHTON is an award-winning historian of modern Europe and European colonialism and has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University. He has provided media commentary for the Atlantic, Newsweek, Time and CNN. He lives in San Francisco.

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