Table of Contents

Introduction1. Back to the Future: France and Penal Colonization; 2. The Desire to Deport: The Recidivist of Fin de Siecle France; 3. Life in the Penal Colony: The View from Above and Below; 4. The Lords of Discipline: The French Penal Colony Service; 5. The Battle over the Bagnard: Tropical Medicine in the Bagne; 6. The Not-So-Fatal Shore: The Criminological Conception of the Fin de Siecle Bagne; 7. The Bagne Obscura: Representational Crisis and the Twentieth CenturyConclusion

Promotional Information

A social and cultural analysis of civil society and the will of those who actually lived and worked in the penal colonies

About the Author

Stephen A. Toth is an assistant professor of history at Arizona State University’s West campus.

Reviews

"Stephen A. Toth adds to the growing literature on colonial police forces and prisons with this sophisticated, archivally grounded history of French penal colonies in French Guiana and New Caledonia from their creation in 1854 to their final closure in 1952... [T]his is a very satisfying piece of work, a welcome addition to new colonial history." American Historical Review "...the appearance of Toth's book is welcome indeed...Toth's chapter about internal life, especially the perspective from below, offers fascinating reading...the entire chapter 7 again offers fascinating reading" Pieter Spierenburg Crime, History & Societies 2009, Vol. 13, No. 1