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

Daughton's book brings our attention to a wealth of archival material (mainly Catholic) and offers an important insight into the part played by Catholic missionaries in the expansion and consoildation of the French Empire. (Pascal Mercier French Studies)

This illuminating book explains how the political tensions between Catholics and Republicans that beset France were exported to its new colonies, with grave consequences for the subject populations. Covering a wide range of territories and examining new documents, J.P. Daughton paints a picture of a colonial enterprise tainted by hypocrisy and warped by the animosity between church and state. (Ruth Harris, Oxford University, author of Lourdes: Body and Spirit in the Secular Age)

Daughton succeeds in writing missionaries back into empire and, mostly, at elucidating their complex and shifting roles as para-colonial actors with interests of their own. Nuanced and balanced, the book is also beautifully crafted. (Eric Jennings, author of Vichy in the Tropics)

[An]...excellent volume Daughton's is a history of competing missions, of how they interacted and changed one another with lasting consequences, not just for the French, but also for the colonial populations they ruled."―Philip G. Nord, Princeton University

...uses three deeply researched case studies to explore the enormously important and complicated role of Christian missionaries in the construction of the French empire. An Empire Divided is broad in its sympathies, gracefully written, and full of dramatic incidents; it is a major contribution to the emerging literature on the history of European imperialism. (Thomas Kselman, University of Notre Dame)

Daughton's book brings our attention to a wealth of archival material (mainly Catholic) and offers an important insight into the part played by Catholic missionaries in the expansion and consolidation of the French Empire (Patrick Crowley, French Studies)

...a thoroughly absorbing and informative book which should appeal across the board to scholars, students and general readers. (Claire Eldridge, French History)

Thoroughly researched and eloquently written, Daughton's comparative study of the complex, often contradictory, relationships between Republicans in France, the Church, and Catholic orders across the French Empire is one of a kind. His work also pays attention to critical issues of women and gender throughout, which renders this history all the more original. (Julia Clancy-Smith, The University of Arizona)

Eminently readable, with a strong analysis that is richly peppered with narratives large and small; doubtlesss it will become a landmark text for specialists, and a useful resource for graduate students. (Jennifer M. Dueck, The English Historical Review.)

J. P. Daughton is an assistant professor of history at Stanford University.