Spirits Embodied: Art of the Congo; Selections from the Helmut F. Stern Collection was published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title held in 1999 at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. All the works came from the Congo. Helmut Stern purchased most of them from Marc Léo Félix, the Belgian connoisseur and African art dealer. The core of the collection, twenty-two out of seventy-one pieces, formerly belonged to the late Belgian artist Joseph Henrion; the rest came from French, Belgian, and Portuguese collectors. The quality of the works varies considerably: some are quite remarkable for their forms and designs, while others, especially many of the Henrion pieces, are crudely carved. The book includes three essays, two by Evan Maurer, Director of the museum, and one by Niangi Batulukisi, an African-born scholar (Muyaka) who is also responsible for the catalogue section. Evan Maurer begins the book with a very useful, relatively long review of the parts played by politicians, anthropologists, art collectors, and dealers in the history of American relations with Africa. In 1907, King Leopold II of Belgium, eager to “educate” the American public about his Congo Free State (now Democratic Republic of Congo), donated 3,500 objects from...