Author: PRADT, M. De . [Dominique Georges Frederic].
Title: Les Trois Ages des Colonies, ou de leur etat passe, present et a venir.
Description: Paris, Giguet 1801-02. Three volumes octavo contemporary speckled calf (surface nibbling on the sides). An excellent, fresh, crisp and handsome set. ¶ First edition. This was not a period to argue against the idea of empire in France and Pradt is a notable exception to the rule of silence. Perhaps this was seen as a clever polemical spanner to be insinuated into the works of the English, Dutch, Portugese and Spanish; certainly it did Pradt no harm. He thrived under Napoleon and momentarily did even better come the restoration, until his attempts to curry the favour of all sides backfired. He was nothing if not a sleaze; once he was sure Napoleon was truly finished he published his claim that he was 'the one man too many' that brought Napoleon down. A couple of historians have argued about his influence on Jefferson and Adams and by descent the Monroe Doctrine but he won greatest favour among the liberationists of South America. Apparently Bolivar awarded him a pension paid from his own funds. This is the first and most ambitious of many works that chewed over the nature and future of colonial power over the next thirty years and while his ideal outcome changed through the years his tenet remained the same: the independence of colonies was inevitable, desirable and beneficial for Europe.

Keywords: social sciences history France c18th c19th government political economy economics colonies