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lukescalone's review against another edition
3.0
This is very much a textbook. While written as an introduction, this book is incredibly information-dense and takes a lot of energy to get through. I was especially interested in the last few chapters on colonial culture and, particularly, decolonization.
While the book is filled with information, it isn't particularly detailed on any particularly aspect of the French colonial empire. There's an outline of each region, then we are brought into discussions of French colonial policies, settlement, etc. without much further information. France is certainly at the center of the book, not any specific colony. Given the brevity of the book, I cannot complain too much about this perspective, although I wish I read something that emphasized individual colonies a bit more. Aldrich has other books on French colonialism in the South Pacific--my area of interest--so I'll take a look at these later. The bibliographical essay is in-depth, but many of the references and works mentioned aren't worth taking a close look at unless you can read French.
Lastly, don't expect this to be a page-turner. Because it covers so much ground, it focuses more on structures, politics, policies, etc. than actual lived experiences.
While the book is filled with information, it isn't particularly detailed on any particularly aspect of the French colonial empire. There's an outline of each region, then we are brought into discussions of French colonial policies, settlement, etc. without much further information. France is certainly at the center of the book, not any specific colony. Given the brevity of the book, I cannot complain too much about this perspective, although I wish I read something that emphasized individual colonies a bit more. Aldrich has other books on French colonialism in the South Pacific--my area of interest--so I'll take a look at these later. The bibliographical essay is in-depth, but many of the references and works mentioned aren't worth taking a close look at unless you can read French.
Lastly, don't expect this to be a page-turner. Because it covers so much ground, it focuses more on structures, politics, policies, etc. than actual lived experiences.
ekul's review
3.0
This is very much a textbook. While written as an introduction, this book is incredibly information-dense and takes a lot of energy to get through. I was especially interested in the last few chapters on colonial culture and, particularly, decolonization.
While the book is filled with information, it isn't particularly detailed on any particularly aspect of the French colonial empire. There's an outline of each region, then we are brought into discussions of French colonial policies, settlement, etc. without much further information. France is certainly at the center of the book, not any specific colony. Given the brevity of the book, I cannot complain too much about this perspective, although I wish I read something that emphasized individual colonies a bit more. Aldrich has other books on French colonialism in the South Pacific--my area of interest--so I'll take a look at these later. The bibliographical essay is in-depth, but many of the references and works mentioned aren't worth taking a close look at unless you can read French.
Lastly, don't expect this to be a page-turner. Because it covers so much ground, it focuses more on structures, politics, policies, etc. than actual lived experiences.
While the book is filled with information, it isn't particularly detailed on any particularly aspect of the French colonial empire. There's an outline of each region, then we are brought into discussions of French colonial policies, settlement, etc. without much further information. France is certainly at the center of the book, not any specific colony. Given the brevity of the book, I cannot complain too much about this perspective, although I wish I read something that emphasized individual colonies a bit more. Aldrich has other books on French colonialism in the South Pacific--my area of interest--so I'll take a look at these later. The bibliographical essay is in-depth, but many of the references and works mentioned aren't worth taking a close look at unless you can read French.
Lastly, don't expect this to be a page-turner. Because it covers so much ground, it focuses more on structures, politics, policies, etc. than actual lived experiences.
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