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A Training School for Elephants
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About This Book
Out of a sidelined, colonial-era expedition in Africa comes a new history of cruelty, deception and adventure from the acclaimed author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia In 1879, King Leopold II of Belgium launched an ambitious plan to plunder Africa's resources. The key to cracking open the continent, or so he thought, was its elephants—if only he could train them. And so he commissioned the charismatic Irish adventurer Frederick Carter to ship four tamed Asian elephants from India to the East African coast, where they were marched inland towards Congo. The ultimate aim was to establish a training school for African elephants. Following in the footsteps of the four elephants, Roberts pieces together the story of this long-forgotten expedition, in travels that take her to Belgium, Iraq, India, Tanzania, and Congo. The storytelling brings to life a compelling cast of historic characters and modern voices, from ivory dealers to Catholic nuns, set against rich descriptions of the landscapes travelled. In an original weave of past and present, she digs deep into historic records revealing an extraordinary—and enduring—story of colonial greed, hypocrisy, and folly.
Reviews
"How does private and political life ebb and flow in this country 60-some years after independence?"
"History and travelogue combine wonderfully in this tale of colonial plunder and hubris ...."
"A story of folly and hubris ..."
"It's a tour de force."
"This is a beautiful, intelligent and heartfelt book, a brilliantly researched account of an imperial fever dream alongside a no less feverish contemporary journey."
"In spite of Roberts' interrogation of colonialism, her thoughtful approach to geographic and ethnic group naming, and her critical account of Carter's journey and Leopold's motivation, there is something uncomfortable in centering so much of the book around her own experiences as a British woman traveling in Africa in search of answers."
"Any account of a journey in the footsteps of another is bound to be elegiac, but rarely has an elegy been so suffused with drama and pathos."
"She never shows why the quartet of elephants might reveal how 'European imperialism had unfolded on the African continent' ..."
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