ABSTRACT
This work is the latest volume in the ongoing reference series, “Themes in European Expansion: Exploration, Colonization, and the Impact of Empire.” Like its predecessors in the series, the work constitutes a significant addition to existing bibliographical sources in its field. In the present instance, Dr. Philip Boucher gives us a detailed listing of materials ranging across a spectrum from manuscripts and unpublished theses to well-known printed works, all of which deal with the important subject of French colonial enterprise in the Western Hemisphere during the seventeenth century. This was a period of considerable French expansion, and the role of three individuals––Cardinal Richelieu, Nicholas Fouquet, and Jean-Baptiste Colbert––weighs heavily in this work. In its totality though, the author’s modest subtitle notwithstanding, the book is much more than a bio-bibliography of these three key individuals. Indeed, the author has covered virtually every facet of France’s overseas enterprise in the Americas during this period. Likewise, as is the case with all volumes in the series, individual entries have evaluative annotations, and there is a substantial introductory chapter analyzing both existing literature and areas where further scholarly endeavor is needed.
