Cultured Force: Makers and Defenders of the French Colonial Empire - Softcover

No course in modern French history should be without this book.... A fresh new reading to the entire enterprise of French colonial history. - Frederick Quinn, International Journal of African Historical Studies ""Vividly written, [Cultured Force] challenges those determined to see nothing beneficial in European colonialism, or, more precisely in the achievements of France's preeminent military proconsuls of the past two hundred years.... The book is valuable in its attempt to reconstruct the familial backgrounds and circumstantial difficulties that so often shaped the outlook and actions of the individuals studied.... Both subtle and well informed."" - Martin Thomas, Modern and Contemporary France

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.