An Empire Divided: Religion, Republicanism, and the Making of French Colonialism, 1880-1914

An Empire Divided: Religion, Republicanism, and the Making of French Colonialism, 1880-1914. ByJ. R Daughton. (New York: Oxford University Press. 2006. Pp. xiv, 330. $24.95 paperback. ISBN 978-0-195-37401-8.)

This fascinating book's central contention, in the words of its author, is that "the discord over the role of religion in the young [French] republican empire exposes unexplored themes that are crucial for understanding French political and cultural history between 1880 and 1914" (p. 261). J. P Daughton, now teaching in the history department at Stanford University, has elected to explore this theme in the French colonial locales of Indochina, Polynesia, and Madagascar. These three settings, with Indochina...