| Book Review | Journal of World History, 18.1

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| Book Review | Journal of World History, 18.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Imperialism and the Corruption of Democracies. By HERMAN LEBOVICS. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2006. 172 pp. $74.95 (cloth); $21.95 (paper).

Herman Lebovics offers a sophisticated set of six essays that together amount to a critique of the impact of empire on metropolitan countries, specifically France. Originally, the essays started work as invited lectures or conference papers, but Lebovics, professor of history at Stony Brook University, has used the opportunity to rewrite the pieces, to bring the discussions and bibliographies up to date, and to add a preface and afterword. The book's theme is that colonies are dangerous to the health of democracy or, more specifically, that imperial strivings harm the chances for an egalitarian social order; although the relationship between that and democracy is less clear than Lebovics assumes. Lebovics cites George Orwell's reflection that "When white man turns tyrant, it is his own freedom that he destroys" and probes this theme.

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