"Exterminate all the brutes"

The writing is so clear and precise, it slices through decades of obfuscation and excuses about colonialism and genocide.

"And when what had been done in the heart of darkness was repeated in the heart of Europe, no one recognized it. No one wished to admit what everyone knew. [...] You already know that. So do I. It is not knowledge we lack. What is missing is the courage to understand what we know."

Colonialism has always meant genocidal extinction, and with Kendi-esque clarity Lindqvist charts the shifting justifications and revelations swept aside or welcomed in "civilized" society grappling with these terrors and all too normal evils. The elements of the author's own travelogue and of Conrad's literary and experiential background for "Heart of Darkness" are minor counterpoints to a forceful documentation of societal guilt.