Upcoming Book from The Johns Hopkins University Press:

France and the American Tropics to 1700: Tropics of Discontent?

The first comprehensive account of colonization and French society in the Caribbean redefines the French colonial project and sheds new light on the early transatlantic world.

Describing the geography, topography, climate, and flora and fauna of the region, Philip P. Boucher recreates the tropical environment in which colonists and indigenous peoples interacted. He then examines the lives and activities of the region's inhabitants---the indigenous Island Caribs, landowning settlers, indentured servants, African slaves, and people of mixed blood, the gens de couleur. He argues that the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were not merely a prelude to the classic plantation regime model, but were, rather, an era presenting a whole variety of possible outcomes. This original narrative demonstrates that the transition to sugar and the plantation complex was more gradual in the French properties than generally depicted-and was not inevitable. Visit the JHU Press website to learn more and purchase this book.

About Philip P. Boucher, Ph.D.

Born in Hartford, CT. July 22, 1944 to Albert and Loretta Boucher, Dr. Boucher graduated from the University of Hartford in 1966. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut under Edmund (Tedd) Dickerman and graduated in 1974. The dissertation title is "France 'Discovers' America.

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