The cover image of the American edition shows a photograph of Leopold superimposed on a photograph of two mutilated boys. Leopold is depicted in a typical bust portrait, though his clothing runs into the background leaving the appearance of a floating head. Discuss how this image supports the title of the book and echoes the severed heads of African victims such as those adorning the flower garden of Léon Rom.

Sir Henry Morton Stanley is generally portrayed as a nearly superhuman man, unafraid and stalwart, and possessed of a steely nerve, iron constitution, and grim determination. The text suggests he was irrationally afraid of sexual intimacy with women, cruelly sadistic, and fairly dim-witted. Discuss the processes which lead historians to different conclusions about cultural icons.

The book suggests that Leopold was unusually interested in business from an early age, and that he was...