ePub In Search of Empire: The French in the Americas; 1670-1730 by Professor James Pritchard in History

Review

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. How the French gained and lost an EmpireBy joeI love the history of the French colonial Empire. This is why I looked at this book and eventually got it. Rather than being written like a short story as many history books are; this has a very research feel to it; thus making it seem rather dry. But the arguments it presents are fascinating. Pritchard looks a few different parts of the French colonial empire; from New France; the Caribbean Islands to St. Dominique. He provides their importance to the French as well as the history of interaction with other European power vying for control of these small and large pieces of real estate. Pritchard looks at the French colonial empire from defense to economic and social development throughout the centuries until their fall. More importantly he looks to France; the kings and their minister who had a vested interest within the empire and why; looking from plans to bolster defense and even population. He is able to compare the French empire with that of the English and their key differences. Pritchard done a good job of presenting the challenges to the French in empire building as well as showing how they succeeded and failed in their search for empire.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. In search of wisdomBy T. CarlssonIt’s interesting to contrast J.H. Elliott’s book ”Empires of the Atlantic World”; which discusses the British and Spanish colonies in America; with this book on French colonies in America. The former takes a broad view and effectively explains the historical roots of modern South and North American society; why colonial societies on each subcontinent developed the way they did. This book; on the other hand; explains nothing about American society in general. Although the author is clearly knowledgeable on his subject; he deliberately avoids all forms of large-scale explanation. Instead; his motivation for writing this book seems to lie merely in refuting a few earlier opinions in French historiography which he happens to disagree with.The author goes about his corrective historiographical task primarily by citing a lot of statistics. So and so many people lived on this island in this decade; so and so many tons of products were shipped from here to there; and so on. The only persons who might be interested in this much data are indeed his colleagues who specialize in the same field. In the chapter on Government and Politics the author discusses the personal motivations of specific colonial governors at some length; but he fails to say anything general about how colonial government worked or didn't work. The next 150 pages of the book then discuss how French wars played out in the colonies; again in excruciating detail; this general sailed his ships over there and lost so and so many men in the ensuing battle; and then so and so many ships sailed to the next battle. All of this is extremely boring because it teaches the reader absolutely nothing of general interest.Even in the concluding chapter; where the wisdom-deprived reader would finally hope to learn something of value; the author continues to cite how many tons were shipped and what the motivations of various minor colonial and continental players were when they acted the way they did. I guess he simply conceives history in this way: as a series of small events which are not linked in any meaningful way to each other; and which are indescribable in general terms except for the statistical data which happened to be recorded at the time; or the individual motivations that diaries reveal. This is an intellectually poor and unsatisfying view of history; so I wouldn't be surprised if the author's lectures don't gather much attendance at his university. Elliott’s book; on the other hand; is the exact opposite: it shows that historical explanations which go deeper than the surface can be both interesting in themselves and pertinent for understanding the present.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Why France's empire failedBy Bradley NelsonThis book is a fantastic look at the history of the French in the Americas. I'll start off by saying that this is a very academic book and not the sort to read casually. I read this as a part of a masters history course and; for an academic work; it is relatively quite readable. Pritchard's thesis is that France wanted an empire to increase its stature in Europe; but never really invested in its colonies. They never wanted to conquer like the Spanish or settle like the English. They just wanted a bit of the wealth that could come from North American and Caribbean colonies. Colonial management was largely left to private individuals or businesses and Louis XIV never made use of his navy to maintain his colonies. By the 1700s; most of the American colonies had been lost to the British.This book is a wonderful study of the mindset of French empire and an explanation of its failures.