Cultured Force: Makers and Defenders of the French Colonial Empire [Hardcover]

Barnett Singer (Author), John Langdon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0299199002 | ISBN-13: 978-0299199005 | Publication Date: April 15, 2004 | Edition: 1

Bridging gaps between intellectual history, biography, and military/colonial history, Barnett Singer and John Langdon provide a challenging, readable interpretation of French imperialism and some of its leading figures from the early modern era through the Fifth Republic.  They ask us to rethink and reevaluate, pulling away from the usual shoal of simplistic condemnation.  In a series of finely-etched biographical studies, and with much detail on both imperial culture and wars (including World War I and II), they offer a balanced, deep, strong portrait of key makers and defenders of the French Empire, one that will surely stimulate much historical work in the field.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I agree with Singer and Langdon who point out over and over again that the conquerors and the conquered shared in both the benefits and the sacrifices of imperialism. All this makes for a notable work."—William A. Hoisington, Jr., Emeritus Professor of Modern European & French Colonial History, University of Illinois at Chicago

"Scholarly and yet passionately personal—without in any way drifting from the essential bibliographic and archival moorings. . . . A splendid overall addition to the always growing literature."— John C. Cairns, University of Toronto

From the Back Cover

"The conquerors and the conquered shared in both the benefits and the sacrifices of imperialism. . . . a notable work."--William A. Hoisington, Jr., Emeritus Professor of Modern European and French Colonial History, University of Illinois at Chicago

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 488 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; 1 edition (April 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299199002
• ISBN-13: 978-0299199005
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,653,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars assessment of top French colonial administrators, January 26, 2005

By 

Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cultured Force: Makers and Defenders of the French Colonial Empire (Hardcover)

Singer and Langdon, both university professors, reassess French imperialism; which along with the imperialism of other Western nations, has been negatively portrayed in the colonial and postcolonial studies of recent decades. They do so through biographical and historical studies of key French proconsuls in French colonies in Africa and Asia. They do not try to make the simplistic point that French imperialism and colonialism was good, or even desirable. But they aim to balance the picture of this colonialism, and by extension all Western colonialism. While not trying to gloss over brutalities and atrocities committed by colonial masters, the authors note that colonialism also worked to "reduce feudal inequalities, abolish serfdom, establish constitutions, build roads...and extend educational opportunities." This was seen by France--and other colonial powers--as "civilizing backward peoples." But it could also be seen as raising the living standards of the inhabitants of the colonies. Shedding a light on French colonialism by biographically and analytically looking at the specific colonial officials of Thomas Robert Bugeaud of Algeria, Louis-Hubert-Gonzalve Lyautey of Southeast Asia, and others, the authors inject a human dimension, with all of its aspirations and faults, into the subject. This is a scholarly work which reads almost like history for the general reader for dealing with historical characters and seeing historical issues in terms of their personalities and actions. With its balanced, broader view of French colonialism, "Cultured Force" restores an ambiguity to its subject, thus making it a subject of true history and human enterprise rather than an ideological or myopic one.