France on the Mekong: A History of the Protectorate in Cambodia, 1863-1953 [Paperback]

John A. Tully (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0761824316 | ISBN-13: 978-0761824312 | Publication Date: January 20, 2003

Based on largely unexploited archival sources, France on the Mekong is the first comprehensive history of the colonial era in Cambodia. The book takes as its point of departure Marx's early appraisal of colonialism's "double mission" in Asia. Tully argues that King Norodom's decision to invite in the French in 1863 was a "Faustian bargain" for Cambodia. While the Protectorate did ensure the continued existence of the Cambodian state, and did much to preserve Cambodia's crumbling cultural legacy, the downside was that authoritarian rule was entrenched rather than weakened, and that the country was left seriously underdeveloped when the French left in 1953. Colonialism disturbed the foundations of traditional society, but did not replace them. This was to have disastrous consequences for post-colonial Cambodia-- a point that the author develops at the end of the book.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is the first comprehensive work in any language on Cambodia as a 90-year French colony. Summing Up: RECOMMENDED. All levels. (H.T. Wong Choice )

France on the Mekong is a straightforward narrative that traces the political and social developments of Cambodia under French rule. Tully's well-researched and comprehensive treatment of the subject…is a much-needed contribution to the literature on the subject. (Patricia M.E. Lorcin H-France Review )

John Tully's masterful fine grained study of the French Colonial era in Cambodia fills a wide lacuna in Cambodian historiography and is also a marvelous read...he provides one of the fairest and most nuanced pictures of the French geste that I have encountered in over forty years of immersion in the subject. (From the Foreword, Professor David Chandler )

About the Author

John A. Tully is a Lecturer, Faculty of Arts, Victoria University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: University Press Of America (January 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761824316
• ISBN-13: 978-0761824312
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,455,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First class research, first class history, August 10, 2007

By 

reader (NZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: France on the Mekong: A History of the Protectorate in Cambodia, 1863-1953 (Paperback)

This is one of the very few works on this area and period that can be said to present genuinely good original research. For a sound analysis of the history of Cambodia across an important transitional period, this is the best source. It is also very well written, easy to read, fully documented. It is therefore a pity not to grace such excellent work with 5 stars - and I have chosen to give only 4 because the author has been very sadly let down by a very sloppy editorial team - nothing to do with the main text - that is excellent - but the index provides the reader with an unannounced mathematical exercise whenever it is used. The index seems to be based on a version that is some 45-50 pages longer than this one, so to find an item it is necessary to look, not on the cited page, but on a page that is approximately (N-N*450/500) earlier in the text. This is not helpful for the average historian. Do not let this put anybody off reading this as a great piece of history - but I happen to think an index is a useful tool in a book - and a tool which these days is a trivial task to get right.