Includes bibliographical references (pages 695-703), and index.

pt. 1. The open path -- Leopold's crusade -- Three flags across Africa -- Two steps forward -- The crouching lion -- Ismael's dream of empire -- One step backward -- Saving the Bey -- Saving the Khedive -- pt. 2. The race begins -- The race for the pool -- Head in the clouds -- Hewett shows the flag -- Why Bismarck changed his mind -- Too late? -- Welcome to a Philanthropist -- pt. 3. Rights of conquest -- Gordon's head -- The Sultan's flag -- Cries from the heart -- Dr. Emin, I presume? -- Salisbury's bargain -- An insubordinate army -- A new rand? -- Msiri's mocking smile -- The flag follows the cross -- An ivory war -- Blank treaty forms on the Niger -- A lion's share -- Rhodes, raiders and rebels -- Calling Hanotaux's bluff -- The race to the middle of nowhere -- The Mahdi's tomb -- Milner's war -- pt. 4. Resistance and reform -- The severed hands -- The Kaiser's first war -- 'Maji-Maji!' -- Redeeming the French Congo -- Restoring Britain's 'Old ideals' -- Leopold's last throw.