Foreign Policy of the French Second Empire: A Bibliography

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This bibliography contains over 4100 citations and offers information to aid the researcher in locating sources for the study of the foreign policy of the French Second Empire. It includes books, articles, doctoral dissertations and general studies of major diplomatic history topics relating to the political, economic, social and cultural aspects of Second Empire foreign policy that have been published between the mid-1880s and the mid-1980s in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Entries are annotated when titles are not self-explanatory and the use of subheadings and cross-references provides more than 150 self-contained topical bibliographies that are complete, informative and readily accessible. Full titles of the 679 periodicals cited are included, as well as the length of books, citations of published dissertations, English translations and other useful information. Topic headings include some focus on the broader issues, such as Colonialism and Colonies, Concert of Europe and Conference Diplomacy, Disarmament/Peace Movement/Pacifism, The Eastern Question, Economic Policies and Role of France and the Western Hemisphere and France. Author and subject indexes make the exhaustive body of resources more available for research.

Reviews

Properly billing itself as "the most comprehensive yet published on its topic," this bibliography stays close to its subject, avoiding unnecessary references to more general historical studies of the Second Empire of biographies of Napoleon III. The compiler, author of Napoleon III and the Concert of Europe (Ch Oct 83) and editor of Historical Dictionary of the French Second Empire (Ch Apr 86), is superbly qualified. He has succeeded in the ambitious, comprehensive task of including nearly every book, journal article, and dissertation on the topic in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. The 4,101 entries cover historical writing from 1885 through the mid-1980s, although some entries are earlier in origin. To use this valuable research tool most effectively, one should be proficient in French. The compiler recommends that his bibliography be used in connection with more general major bibliographies such as Bibliographie annuelle de l'histoire de France and Historical Abstracts.-Choice
The goal of this bibliography is certainly ambitious: to include every book, article, and doctoral dissertation concerned entirely or primarily with the foreign policy of the French Second Empire published between the mid-1880s and the mid-1980s in English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish.' Excluded are biographies of Napoleon III or general histories of the Second Empire. They may be included in a proposed volume, Select Bibliography of the French Second Empire to be published by Greenwood Press. General studies are included . . . only when their topics are considered ones whose French interest was paramount or, in some instances, peculiar.' The bibliography is divided into twenty-one chapters with further subdivisions for each chapter. For example, under The Eastern Question' are eleven separate topical listings and under The U.S. and France' are three. With separate listings on 150 topics, this is a comprehensive bibliography on the subject. Basic bibliographical information is presented for each title. Author and subject indices. Recommended for academic and major public libraries.-Reference Book Review
"Properly billing itself as "the most comprehensive yet published on its topic," this bibliography stays close to its subject, avoiding unnecessary references to more general historical studies of the Second Empire of biographies of Napoleon III. The compiler, author of Napoleon III and the Concert of Europe (Ch Oct 83) and editor of Historical Dictionary of the French Second Empire (Ch Apr 86), is superbly qualified. He has succeeded in the ambitious, comprehensive task of including nearly every book, journal article, and dissertation on the topic in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. The 4,101 entries cover historical writing from 1885 through the mid-1980s, although some entries are earlier in origin. To use this valuable research tool most effectively, one should be proficient in French. The compiler recommends that his bibliography be used in connection with more general major bibliographies such as Bibliographie annuelle de l'histoire de France and Historical Abstracts."-Choice
"The goal of this bibliography is certainly ambitious: to include every book, article, and doctoral dissertation concerned entirely or primarily with the foreign policy of the French Second Empire published between the mid-1880s and the mid-1980s in English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish.' Excluded are biographies of Napoleon III or general histories of the Second Empire. They may be included in a proposed volume, Select Bibliography of the French Second Empire to be published by Greenwood Press. General studies are included . . . only when their topics are considered ones whose French interest was paramount or, in some instances, peculiar.' The bibliography is divided into twenty-one chapters with further subdivisions for each chapter. For example, under The Eastern Question' are eleven separate topical listings and under The U.S. and France' are three. With separate listings on 150 topics, this is a comprehensive bibliography on the subject. Basic bibliographical information is presented for each title. Author and subject indices. Recommended for academic and major public libraries."-Reference Book Review

Author Bio

WILLIAM E. ECHARD is Associate Professor of History at Glendon College of York University in Toronto.