Abstract
It would be apt to begin this review by stating that, despite the main title, readers of this book will not find a history of famed European expeditions in Africa. What they will find, however, is an innovative comparison of popular imperialism in Britain and France between 1870 and 1939, as well as an important study of celebrity culture during the nascent age of mass media. In this respect, the book does not so much concern itself with the deeds of figures such as Stanley and Lyautey in Africa, as with the process by which their deeds were translated into heroic reputations at home. For that reason, this work represents a significant contribution both to the ‘new’ imperial history and to histories of popular culture; one that interrogates conceptual divisions between colony and metropole, as well as between Britain and France.
In keeping with MUP’s Studies in Imperialism series, Sèbe’s book is based upon the premise that empire had a profound impact on metropolitan societies during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first part of the book consequently describes the broader context that allowed certain men (and Sèbe convincingly argues why it was just men, particularly those in the military) to become imperial ‘heroes’ amongst the populations of Britain and France during the scramble for Africa. Its discussion of the period’s key political, economic, social, and technological changes will present little new information to historians of empire, the media, or nineteenth-century Europe (though it does testify to Sèbe’s impressive breadth of historical knowledge and grasp of the secondary literature). What will intrigue the reader, however, is the explanation of how these developments facilitated a ‘hero-making industry’ (p. 18): a network of journalists, editors, authors, and publishers which promoted the actions of certain soldiers and explorers in Africa to domestic audiences, thereby giving rise to a new type of national hero.
Accordingly, the most engrossing aspect of the book is its illumination of the relationships that constituted this multifaceted network of mass media, commerce, popular culture, politics, and technology. Of particular significance is the exposition of how popular interest in empire drove – and was in turn driven by – the profit imperatives of print-capitalism (though this was more evident in Britain than in France). In the second and third chapters, Sèbe effectively delineates this reciprocal dynamic through a qualitative and quantitative analysis of media sources, including the content of newspapers, biographies, and advertisements (the image of de Brazza appearing on a packet of ‘Explorer’s Soap’ is especially memorable), as well as print-run statistics and sales figures. The fourth chapter’s examination of the ways in which popular imperial figures were subsequently exploited for political propaganda, moreover, identifies an overlooked relationship between the spheres of entertainment and politics in the age of New Imperialism. Throughout the chapters, Sèbe is also able to skilfully weave in the influence of technological developments, whilst demonstrating the interdependencies between print, music, photography, and cinema in the successful promotion of heroic deeds.
Owing to its concern with the hero-making process rather than the ‘heroes’ themselves, the majority of this book is thematic in its approach. However, the last third presents a much more focused micro-history centred upon two imperial celebrities: Major Marchand and Sirdar Kitchener. At first, this change in approach appears as somewhat abrupt – even jarring – yet Sèbe uses it to bring together the preceding chapters in such a way that it ultimately represents the most compelling part of the book. To this effect, the star of the show is the large collection of personal correspondence that the author brings to bear, which contributes additional depth and detail to the processes previously discussed. Sèbe uses such material, for example, to convincingly demonstrate that the ‘Kitchener legend’ was born out of a concrete drive for commercial and literary success amongst publishers and authors, as much as an abstract ideology of nationalism.
The only real fault with this book concerns its back matter, where one finds 15 brief biographical sketches of the heroes mentioned in the main body of text, in place of a bibliography. The inclusion of the former does not really enhance the book in any meaningful way, whilst the omission of the latter can make it difficult for the reader to find the full details of a source when following up references in the text. However, this is a minor criticism of what is undoubtedly a highly significant and elegantly written work.