Empires of Vice: The Rise of Opium Prohibition across Southeast Asia

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A history of opium's dramatic fall from favor in colonial Southeast Asia During the late nineteenth century, opium was integral to European colonial rule in Southeast Asia. The taxation of opium was a major source of revenue for British and French colonizers, who also derived moral authority from imposing a tax on a peculiar vice of their non-Eu

Reviews

"Co-Winner of the Giovanni Sartori Best Book Award, Qualitative Methods Section of the American Political Science Association"
"Honorable Mention, Charles Taylor Book Award, American Political Science Association"
"Honorable Mention for the Allan Sharlin Memorial Award, Social Science History Association"
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Kims argument adds a valuable dimension and a perspective from the colonies most affected in a period which has been less written about by historians. . . . [Kim] adds to our understanding of how
fundamental changes in response to the consumption of opiates came about.

"---Virginia Berridge, Addiction
"Empires of Vice is well researched, with sources ranging from government records and meeting minutes to personal papers from state and private archives. It is written in an accessible style and will be of value to scholars of Southeast Asia, drugs history, and colonialism."---Eric Colvard, Journal of British Studies
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Empires of Vice is an important book that underscores the critical role of low-level bureaucrats in transforming the state. . . . [Diana Kim's] work is deeply rooted in the central contributions and concerns of a broad set of literatures,
but also, by shifting the object of empirical analysis to a different region, a later time period than predominant literature, and by looking closely at the anxieties of overlooked actors, Empires of Vice grows its own wings.

"---Katrina Quisumbing King, American Journal of Sociology
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An original account of the shift towards opium prohibition that occurred across colonial South East Asia . . . . Kims work will be of interest to scholars of drug history, the history and politics of South East Asia and those interested in the development of the colonial state.

"---Ashley Wright, South East Asia Research
"Deeply researched and closely argued. . . . Empires of Vice makes important contributions to the historiography of opium regulation, the comparative history of empire, and the development of state making and governance in Southeast Asia."---Andrew J. Rotter, American Historical Review

Author Bio

Diana S. Kim is assistant professor of political science at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.