?Thanks to William H. Schneider's valuable study, we now have a new dimension to the composite portrait of those interested in the French empire to the end of the nineteenth century. ... Among the book's strengths are carefully selected illustrations that reveal directly the nature of the African image presented to the French masses. ... Schneider's chapter on images and his discussion of the ethnographic exhibits constitute original and important contributions to our understanding of the popular empire and its image.?-American Historical Review