RIHC: Exposing the Heart of Darkness; Roger Casement's Fight for Humanity

Who was Roger Casement, the mysterious, enigmatic man at the heart of exposing the terrible humanitarian abuses taking places under King Leopold of Belgium’s regime in the Congo Free State? Born in 1865, his was a life shadowed by ambivalence; but why? What were his origins, and how did they contribute to the remarkable life he would later lead? How did he influence Arthur Conan Doyle’s ultimate adventure story, ’The Lost World’? Did he carry the guilt for his initial role in the Congo for the rest of his life? How did The Casement Report - a brilliant work of investigative writing - serve, in alliance with Edmund Dene Morel, to bring to light the outrages taking place in the Congo? To what extent did it help to bring down that monstrous regime? And, what was his later role in exposing the human rights abuses being perpetrated in the Amazonian rubber industry, and then in the Irish Easter Rising of 1916? In this week’s bonus episode, Tom is joined by legendary historical writer John Banville, to discuss the extraordinary life of Roger Casement, and his enormous role in revealing and discrediting the horrors of King Leopold’s regime in the Congo.  _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor