The Historian's Heart of Darkness: Reading Conrad's Masterpiece as Social and Cultural History

Fiction has tremendous power to portray historical truth—and to communicate history to audiences who may not otherwise attend to the subject. This book presents Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to students and general readers as an insightful guide to the history of Europe and Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

• Presents a fresh perspective on Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness by presenting this fictional story as a crucial source of historical knowledge

• Explains key background information for better understanding Heart of Darkness, such as how Conrad's life uniquely positioned him to chronicle social and cultural history; the colonial partitioning of Africa and the founding of the Congo Free State; and the ivory and rubber trades in the Congo and the atrocities ensuingfrom these lucrative industries

• Provides the texts of both Heart of Darkness and Conrad's autobiographical "Congo Diary" along with more than 200 annotations that illuminate the links between the story and its contexts as well as identify how Conrad shaped historical facts for his fictional portrayal

• Ideal for students taking classes on modern world history, European history, African history, British history, western civilization, European colonialism, exploration and empire, or imperialism